Afghan President Hamid Karzai says US officials and the Taliban are jointly seeking to destabilize Afghanistan to justify the presence of foreign forces in the country, Press TV reported.
On Sunday, Karzai also added that talks are under way on a daily basis "between Taliban, American and foreigners in Europe and in the (Persian) Gulf states."
Referring to two Taliban bombings in Kabul and Khost which killed 17 people on Saturday, Karzai said that "Those bombs ... were not a show of force to America. They were in service of America. It was in the service of the 2014 slogan to warn us if they (Americans) are not here then Taliban will come."
The attacks show "that Taliban want longer presence of foreigners -- not their departure from Afghanistan," Karzai said.
The United States currently has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from about 100,000 in 2010. The US has announced plans to decrease its troop level to about 32,000 by early 2014.
According to the website icasualties.org, 3,259 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led war began in 2001.