KABUL - Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah at a gathering on Wednesday criticized former President Hamid Karzai's recent statement on Taliban and said Karzai needs to respond to the nation in this respect.
"Any person regardless of their position has to respond to the people over what they say," Abdullah said.
Karzai recently said the Taliban (fighters) are also the citizens of Afghanistan and that they can have parts of the country under their control.
Commenting on this, Abdullah said: "If we take this serious, then what it means? It means that his [Karzai's] 13 years of presidency was not legitimate as he said the fight against the Taliban is not legitimate," Abdullah said.
Participants of the event meanwhile said Karzai's remarks speak of his irresponsibility towards the situation.
"Karzai is reacting to the peace agreement made between the National Unity Government [NUG] and Hizb-e-Islami, because during his presidency, the peace talks with Hekmatyar resulted nothing," said Fazl Karim Aimaq, member of the High Peace Council (HPC).
"Karzai himself was brought to power by Americans, but today he makes such remarks," said Ata Mohammad Dehqanpur, a participant of the gathering.
"Any person who speaks from the address of Afghanistan's enemies, is the enemy of the country," said Keramatullah Keram, chief of Paktia Youth Reform Institution. (Tolonews)