'Presence of US troops upsets Afghans now'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants the United States to reduce the visibility and intensity of its "intrusive" military operations, saying people of the war-torn nation have lost patience with the presence of American troops in their homes that could exacerbate Taliban insurgency.

"The time has come to reduce military operations," Karzai said. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan ... to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life," Karzai told The Washington Post.

"It's not desirable for the Afghan people either to have 100,000 or more foreign troops going around the country endlessly," he said.

Karzai said the increased US Special Operations forces night raids could aggravate sufferings of Afghans and exacerbate the Taliban insurgency. He says Afghan troops are ready to take more responsibility for their own security.

He said foreign troops should limit themselves to necessary operations along the Pakistani border.

His comments placed him at odds with US commander Gen David H Petraeus, who has made capture-and-kill missions a central component of his counter-insurgency strategy, and who claims the 30,000 new troops have made substantial progress in beating back the insurgency, the Post said.

Karzai's comments also came as American officials played down the importance of July 2011 -- the date US President Barack Obama set to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan -- in favour of a combat mission ending in 2014, it said.

Karzai said he was speaking out not to criticise the United States but in the belief that candor could improve what he called a "grudging" relationship between the countries.

The President said Afghans have lost patience with the presence of American soldiers in their homes and armoured vehicles on their roads.

Karzai has long been publicly critical of civilian casualties at the hands of US and NATO troops and has called for curtailing night raids into Afghan homes.

But Karzai was emphatic that US troops must cease such operations, which he said violate the sanctity of Afghan homes and incite more people to join the insurgency.

"The raids are a problem always. They were a problem then, they are a problem now. They have to go away," he said.

"The Afghan people don't like these raids, if there is any raid it has to be done by the Afghan government within the Afghan laws. This is a continuing disagreement between us."

Karzai, who had stated during his inaugural speech last year that he would like to have full Afghan security control by 2014, said that the US military "should and could" draw down its forces next year.

He said he wanted the US government to apply more pressure on Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan while focusing on development projects and civilian assistance in Afghanistan.