Some senior officials from former president Hamid Karzai’s government criticized the ex-president over his recent remarks in Moscow, saying that his comments contradict his activities during his presidency.

According to the officials, Karzai had close relations with US officials while he was president and that he not only honored US military officers during this time but also bestowed medals on them.

“From 2001 to 2014 Prsidnt @KarzaiH used 2 write letters of condolences to families of each fallen US soldier. In the meantime, there is no record of him sending a single note of sympathy or condolences to families of fallen ANSF. It is not 1800s to rent a historian & write tales,” former NDS chief Amrullah Saleh tweeted on Wednesday.

One of Karzai’s first spokesmen was Jawed Ludin – who also criticized Karzai for his remarks.

“How can we expect the world to take us seriously?” tweeted Ludin on April 9.

Former national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta in his book writes about his time with Karzai. He mentions that Ashraf Ghani, the incumbent president, was siding with Washington’s policies on Afghanistan but that Karzai supported Ghani during the 2014 presidential elections.

Some MPs also raised questions over Karzai’s remarks.

“Russians are officially the killers of one and a half million Afghans and will never get on well with us. And we want to tell them that Russians should not sacrifice Afghans for their goals,” said Lalai Hamidzai, an MP from Kandahar.

“The comments which say Russia is the only country which can bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, they are not acceptable,” said Musa Nusrat, an MP.

Karzai said in a TV interview over the weekend that the US is responsible for the death of Afghans, is behind the crisis and only Russia can help Afghanistan.

Speaking to Russia’s NTV, Karzai said countries such as the US and the UK cannot help Afghanistan in its anti-terror efforts.

Only Russia can help Afghanistan in counterterrorism efforts, not the United States that has been killing Afghans for the past 17 years and is behind the Afghanistan crisis, Karzai said.

“Neither the Brits, who we have kicked out of the country several times, nor the Americans (can help Afghanistan) as they've been killing us for 17 years; only Russia can (help). We (Afghanistan) are the last barrier from terrorists. We've been fighting continuously for a century and a half. If you (Russia) create new relationships with Pakistan and Afghanistan, you can help,” said Karzai.

Karzai went on to say the US used Afghanistan in the war against the Soviet Union and also created al-Qaeda in military camps in Pakistan.

The Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years, from December 1979 to February 1989.

The mujahedeen, as well as smaller groups, fought a war against the Soviet Army and the Afghanistan government, mostly in the provinces. The mujahedeen groups were backed primarily by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, making it a Cold War proxy war.

However, between 562,000 and two million civilians were killed in this time and millions of Afghans fled the country as refugees, mostly to Pakistan and Iran.