Karzai says Western forces bungled war on Taliban

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - International forces in Afghanistan have mismanaged the fight against the Taliban, leading to a rise in violence, and now risk losing people's goodwill, President Hamid Karzai told an Indian news channel.

Karzai has often criticised the Western conduct of the war in Afghanistan, saying civilian casualties must stop.

In turn, the president, who wants to stand for re-election next year, is often criticised at home for being overly influenced by the United States and Britain.

In an interview to be aired on Indian television on Monday, he said foreign troops had failed to go after "the sanctuaries of the terrorists" which Afghan officials say exist over the border in Pakistan.

Karzai did not directly mention Pakistan but the Afghan government has said that the West should have done more to crack down on Taliban and al Qaeda bases in Pakistan.

"It was a serious neglect of that, in spite of our warning," he told CNBC TV 18, adding that other former members of the Taliban who had given up arms were unfairly hunted down within Afghan territory.

"Some of the Taliban who have laid down their arms, who are living in the Afghan villages peacefully, who have accepted Afghanistan's new order, they were chased, they were hunted for no reason, and they were forced to flee the country."

Ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led and Afghan forces, the Taliban has vowed to topple the Afghan government and drive out the foreign troops who back it.

Some 13,000 people, including more than 380 foreign troops, have been killed in violence since 2006.