Terrorist attacks are the reason for the presence of foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said, suggesting to insurgents they are merely prolonging the stay of the foreign forces.
Speaking at the 147th birthday anniversary of Mahmud Tarzi, Karzai praised the Afghan security forces for repelling the insurgent attacks which brought the capital to a standstill on Sunday and called on the Afghan media to not criticize them.
He once again referred to the Taliban as ‘brothers', but also stressed that what they did went against Islamic principles.
"Sometimes media criticize me for calling Taliban ‘brothers', but I won't give up," he said in his speech at the ceremony in Kabul.
"You [Taliban] damaged Islam, Afghanistan and its economy."
"You did nothing for Islam, you did not work for Afghanistan's independence and you did not work for its people, freedom and development. You worked to prolong a foreign presence," he added.
Karzai said he was asking the US to specify its funding to Afghanistan for the training and equipping of Afghan security forces after US troops withdrawal, before he will agree to any Afghan-US long term agreement.
"Talks are underway about the Afghan-US strategic pact; they don't want to mention the amount of their financial aides, but we are insisting to have the amount included [in the agreement]," he said.
He also called on analysts to respect and recognise the value of the Afghan security forces because of the sacrifices they make to defend the country.
"I request the Afghan media and political experts to criticise me and the parliament, but respect police and other security forces," he said.
Karzai made the comments on the birthday anniversary of the man celebrated as the father of Afghanistan's journalism.
Mahmud Tarzi was born in 1865 in the city of Ghazni. He wrote a number of books and published Saraj-al-akhbar, a bi weekly newspaper in Afghanistan.
He was important in earning the independence of Afghanistan as he led negotiations with British officials during the third Anglo-Afghan war in his role as Foreign Minister from 1919 to 1922.