Former CIA Director General David H Petraeus said the situation in Kabul was heartbreaking as the Afghan people were suffering once again under the Taliban that has an extremist interpretation of Islam.

Speaking at the 19th edition of the India Today Conclave, General David H Petraeus said the Afghan people were staring at a humanitarian catastrophe as the economy had collapsed and aid had dried down.

Petraeus was appointed by former President George W Bush to head multinational forces in Iraq (2007-08) and later served as commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan (2010-11). He was later director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2011-12).