Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the US-led "war on terror" after 9/11 should not have been fought in his country but in "sanctuaries beyond our borders", a clear indication to Pakistan which has been repeatedly accused of harbouring the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Karzai said that he was convinced that previous US President George W Bush's "war on terror" in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 should not have been fought in Afghan villages and homes. In an apparent reference to Pakistan, he said it should have been prosecuted in "sanctuaries beyond our borders."

"I believe that the war on terror was not fought with honesty and not fought genuinely," the 56-year-old Afghan leader said. "The consequences are being felt across the region," Karzai told the BBC.