With the security situation in his country steadily deteriorating and Taliban attacks on the rise, Afghan President Hamid Karzai sat down in New York last week with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Excerpts:

Q. How is the situation in your country? People here say the Taliban is gaining strength and the NATO force position is deteriorating. Is that an accurate assessment?

A. The Taliban are not strengthening, [but] we are not doing things that we should be doing.

Such as?

Such as: We did not pay attention in time to the sanctuaries of the Taliban.

Do you mean sanctuaries in Afghanistan or in Pakistan?

Sanctuaries in the region. I am trying to be very careful now.

Are you saying the international community and the West should have paid more attention to the tribal areas?

Absolutely.

What should they have done?

They should have done all that was needed to be done -- political, diplomatic, the right concentration. All those areas where the training [was taking place].