US can't stay for long in Afghanistan - Hekmatyar

KABUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) An Afghan warlord on a US wanted list has said the United States does not have the capacity to stay for long in Afghanistan and he predicts it will pull out at the same time as it withdraws from Iraq.

Denouncing the United States as ''the mother of problems'', Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister whose forces operate in southeastern areas near Pakistan, said Afghanistan's turmoil would not end until US forces left the region.

''As long as America remains in Afghanistan and in the region, war and problems will continue,'' he said in a copy of a video tape obtained by Reuters today.

''I can say with full assurance and confidence that America does not have the ability to stay for a long period in Afghanistan...,'' he said.

Wearing a black turban, the bespectacled and heavily-bearded Hekmatyar said America's allies had sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq out of fear of Washington.

But he said a rift was emerging among them over whether they should stay on there. ''My anaylsis is that America (will) pull out from Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously and the withdrawal perhaps will happen this year,'' he declared.

Hekmatyar is on a US government wanted list and leads an insurgency force separately from the Taliban Islamic movement against the Afghan government and foreign troops under the command of NATO and the US military.

His forces mostly operate in the rugged southeastern areas bordering Pakistan.

More than 4,000 people died by violence in the southeast and southern regions last year, the bloodiest period since US-led troops overthrew Taliban's government in 2001.

The tape was provided by a sympathiser of Hekmatyar.

Hekmatyar was America's largest recipient of aid in the 1980s during the Soviet invasion.

His group of fighters helped bring about a Soviet withdrawal after ten years of occupation and the loss of some 15,000 soldiers and Hekmatyar advised US and NATO troops to do likewise and pull out.

''The occupying forces...have only one successful way and ...

that is to pull out of Afghanistan as soon as possible,'' he added.

REUTERS SAM BD2318