Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai accused foreign reconstruction and security units on Tuesday of obstructing progress and stability and said they would soon have to leave, just as foreign troops will soon start withdrawing.
Foreign reconstruction and aid programmes worth tens of billions of dollars have been hobbled by poor governance and security and corruption since the Taliban were ousted by US-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
Karzai has long been critical of what he calls parallel institutions - provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) and private security firms - which he says impede progress and should be replaced by Afghan alternatives.
Washington alone has spent about $56 billion on programmes to rebuild aid-reliant Afghanistan and train Afghan security forces since 2002, but Karzai on Tuesday likened the integrated civilian-military PRTs to tradesmen.
"PRTs are not part of Afghanistan's government. PRTs and other foreign institutions are like plumbers and mechanics who are here to help," Karzai told a news conference at his heavily secured palace in Kabul. "When a plumber completes his job, he must go away and look for a job somewhere else," he said.
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