--- description: Hamid Karzai says he's in two minds over whether the war was worth it title: Hamid Karzai Angry With U.S. Over Afghanistan War image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecd16847d2810c9/69868301e8524bb50e6018b6/afghanistan-aid-hamid-karzai.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Afghanistan](/tag/afghanistan/) ## Afghanistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Afghanistan's President is Furious at the Way the U.S. Has Conducted the War by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2014 6:20 AM CUT  Afghan President Hamid Karzai gestures during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on January 25, 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai gestures during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on January 25, 2014.Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2014 6:20 AM CUT In an emotional [interview](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interview-karzai-says-12-year-afghanistan-war-has-left-him-angry-at-us-government/2014/03/02/b831671c-a21a-11e3-b865-38b254d92063%5Fstory.html "undefined") with the _Washington_ _Post_, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has opened up about his disappointment with the way the U.S. has fought the war in his country, saying the high number of civilian casualties made him question whether the war had been worth it. Karzai has been known for his at times vocal and adversarial stance towards the U.S. military, saying that noncombatant deaths had eroded what “common cause” Kabul and Washington had. “I had no other weapon to resort to, no other means to resort to, but to speak publicly and get attention that way,” he told the _Post_. “In other words, I was forced to yell.” The U.S. military’s efforts to reduce civilian casualties have not mollified Karzai, who said “Afghans died in a war that’s not ours” and added that his emotions would not subside until “two, three or five years from now.” Leading the reporters out of his office, Karzai told them to give the American people “my best wishes and my gratitude” but to send “my anger, my extreme anger” to the U.S. government. \[[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interview-karzai-says-12-year-afghanistan-war-has-left-him-angry-at-us-government/2014/03/02/b831671c-a21a-11e3-b865-38b254d92063%5Fstory.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/11192/karzai-explains-anger-at-u-s-government-after-12-years-of-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/11192/karzai-explains-anger-at-u-s-government-after-12-years-of-war/"},"headline":"Afghanistan's President is Furious at the Way the U.S. Has Conducted the War","datePublished":"2014-03-03T06:20:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:31:59.254Z","description":"Hamid Karzai says he's in two minds over whether the war was worth it","url":"https://time.com/11192/karzai-explains-anger-at-u-s-government-after-12-years-of-war/","keywords":["Afghanistan","Interview","President","United States"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecd16847d2810c9/69868301e8524bb50e6018b6/afghanistan-aid-hamid-karzai.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecd16847d2810c9/69868301e8524bb50e6018b6/afghanistan-aid-hamid-karzai.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Afghan President Hamid Karzai gestures during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on January 25, 2014.","caption":"Afghan President Hamid Karzai gestures during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on January 25, 2014.","creditText":"Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/afghanistan/","name":"Afghanistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/11192/karzai-explains-anger-at-u-s-government-after-12-years-of-war/","name":"Afghanistan's President is Furious at the Way the U.S. Has Conducted the War"}}]}] ```