Karzai blasts traitor' Ghani after US drops its big bomb

Kabul: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused his successor on Saturday of committing treason by allowing the US military to drop the largest conventional bomb ever used in combat during an operation against Isis militants in Afghanistan.

Mr Karzai, who also vowed to “stand against America”, retains influence within the majority Pashtun ethnic group, to which President Ashraf Ghani also belongs. His words could signal a political backlash that may endanger the US military mission in Afghanistan.

Afghan defence officials have said the 21,600-pound GBU-43, dropped late on Thursday in Nangarhar, had killed nearly 100 suspected militants, though they acknowledged this was an estimate.

“How could you permit Americans to bomb your country with a device equal to an atom bomb?” Mr Karzai said in Kabul, questioning Mr Ghani’s decision. “If the government has permitted them to do this, that was wrong and it has committed a national treason.”

Mr Ghani’s office said the strike had been coordinated between Afghan and US forces and replied to Karzai’s charges saying, “Every Afghan has the right to speak their mind. This is a country of free speech.”