KABUL, September 9 (IslamOnline) - The Afghans do not allow anyone to control them and as they become stronger, they become more independent, a former American diplomat said Sunday, September 9.

Peter Thompson, the special representative for the U.S. administration to the Afghan Mujahedin from 1989 to 1992, spoke to IslamOnline as he attended the International Conference held in Kabul marking the first death anniversary of Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Masood.

"The Afghans may listen to what the Americans, Russians, Iranians or Pakistanis say, but they rarely ever apply what the foreigners say," Thompson said, adding that the U.S. leadership will fall into a big problem if it doesn't grasp this truth and if it didn't benefit from the Russian experience in Afghanistan.

Thompson was the special representative to the Afghan Mujahedin during the presidency of George Bush Sr. and he witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the communist rule in Afghanistan.

He was expecting to be designated an ambassador to Kabul in 1992, but the U.S. administration never opened its embassy for security reasons, depending on Pakistan in administering its affairs in Afghanistan in 1998.

Thompson, who spent the last four years lecturing on U.S. Foreign Affairs in the Euro-Asian region in the University of Nebraska, said the U.S. leaving Afghanistan the way it is right after the demise of the Soviet Union was a major mistake which the U.S. is still paying the price for. He added that the United States will not repeat this mistake and is planning to stay for a long while in the region.

He said that it is unlikely that the Soviet experience in Afghanistan will be repeated by the U.S., adding that: "The number of our soldiers is very small, no more than seven thousand, and the more the security situation improves, the less soldiers will be needed there and the number will probably decrease to no more than two thousand."

With regards to the U.S. forces leaving the Afghan soil, Thompson said: "The matter is related to the improvement of the security and economic situation as well as the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the increase in the level of education for the people."

He said he was disappointed with the slow arrival of aid from the countries that pledged large amounts of money during the Tokyo conference in January 2002.

He said that the Americans are only responsible for 10 per cent of the international aid which amounts to 4.5 billion dollars. The rest of the aid should be delivered by the European countries, Japan and other donor countries, said Thompson, adding that the reason is because the U.S. paid the larger tab in military costs.

Thompson also said that it was the bureaucracy of the United Nations and the E.U. that was behind the delay of the aid delivery. Eighty per cent of the budget of the current Afghan government is paid for by the International community and that amounts to 490 million dollars.