Afghanistan’s former president says the United States invaded his country to fight extremism and bring stability and is leaving nearly 20 years later having failed at both.

In an interview with the Associated Press, ahead of the U.S. departure from Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai says extremism is now at is “highest point” and the departing troops are leaving behind a disaster.

According to Karzai the U.S. military “came [to Afghanistan] 20 years ago with this clear objective of fighting extremism and bringing stability... but extremism is at the highest point today.

So they have failed”. Karzai says “We recognize as Afghans all our failures, but what about the bigger forces and powers that came here for exactly that purpose?

Where are they leaving us now? In total disgrace and disaster.” Karzai says Afghans are united behind a desire for peace and needed now to take responsibility for their future.

He added that “We will be better off without their military presence; I think we should defend our own country and look after our own lives... their presence [has given us] what we have now... We don’t want to continue with this misery and indignity that we are facing.

It is better for Afghanistan that they leave.” The former Afghan President further slammed the U.S. saying the military campaign “was not against extremism or terrorism, the campaign was more against Afghan villages and hopes, putting Afghan people in prisons, creating prisons in our own country and bombing all villages.

That was very wrong.” A U.S. led coalition invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on America with the aim of toppling the Taliban.

Washington accused the Taliban of harboring the al-Qaeda terrorist group, which Washington alleges was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. However, some 20 years later, the U.S has been negotiating with the same Taliban militants to find the best way to withdraw its forces, which is expected to be completed by September 11 2021.

Meanwhile, other extremist terrorist groups have emerged which had no presence in the country before the U.S. invasion but are wreaking havoc there. These include the Daesh terror group which has claimed responsibility for many terror attacks including the recent bombing of a girl’s school that left hundreds of children either killed or injured. As America prepares to leave, the Afghans are left to pick up the pieces and there are many pieces to put together for Afghan society to return back to normal.

The Taliban is negotiating in intra-Afghan talks but experts believe much more work is needed to compensate for the American damage over the past 20 years.