Karzai demands NATO troops withdraw from villages
By Jennifer Rowland
Friday, March 16, 2012 - 8:28 AM
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Double blow: Shortly after the Taliban had announced yesterday it suspended talks with the United States, President Hamid Karzai demanded that NATO troops end their patrols of rural areas, and confine themselves to their bases by next year (Reuters, CNN, LAT,Guardian, WSJ, NYT, Post). However, a U.S. defense official traveling with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters that there will be no changes to the U.S. exit strategy, and that Karzai had not asked for an immediate pullout of troops during his meeting with Panetta (Reuters).
Karzai told Panetta that Afghans lost trust in the international forces after the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier last Sunday, as Karzai plans to meet with the families of the victims today (CNN). A senior U.S. official said Thursday that the soldier accused of murdering the Afghans "just snapped" as a result of stress buildup from his fourth combat tour, alcohol consumption, and issues with his wife (NYT). Meanwhile, the soldier's lawyer said he and his wife had a "healthy relationship," two children aged three and four, and that he had suffered multiple injuries during his three tours in Iraq (AP, Reuters).
U.S. military officials said Friday that the top U.S. commander in Helmand, Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, was the apparent target of an Afghan man who tried to run over a group of Marines as they waited on a runway for Secretary Panetta to arrive on Thursday (AP, Reuters). The Associated Press reports that Marine officials have just revealed that an Afghan soldier shot and killed a U.S. Marine last month at a joint-run base in the Marja District of Helmand Province (AP). And a Turkish helicopter crashed into a home in Kabul on Friday, killing a reported four civilians and all 12 NATO service members on board (NYT, Post, Reuters, AP).
Decision time
As early as Monday, Pakistan's upper and lower houses of parliament could hold a joint session to review bilateral ties with the United States and decide on the reopening of NATO supply routes through Pakistan to Afghanistan (AFP, AP). The supply routes have been closed since NATO helicopters fired on two Pakistani border posts last November, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistani investigators and lawyers met Thursday with the lead Indian prosecutor of the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, and learned that they will be able to record statements, but will not be permitted to cross-examine Indian witnesses (ET, Dawn, BBC, NDTV). And five of eight companies contacted by a Pakistani advocacy group called Bolo Bhi have reportedly agreed not to respond to the Pakistan government's request for Internet filtering technology it would use to block "undesirable" Web content (NYT).
Height of anger
A motorcycle rickshaw driver in Lahore took his protest over recurring fines to the streets on Friday, climbing a telephone pole to wave his three charge sheets in the air (ET). Another man climbed up the pole to convince the angry driver to come down, but instead eight other rickshaw drivers climbed up the pylon to join his protest, as groups in the street cheered them on.-- Jennifer Rowland
Rabid dog bites you, you quarantee him!
Yassar, it was only 'one' killer 'they say' yet a whole squad of the killers gets (((yanked))) and shipped to Kuwait for 'safe keeping.' I have to wonder what the Great Satan would do if a slew of al-Qaeda killers were caught 'redhanded' murdering US soldiers and then were surreptiously shipped out of the country. Would the United States sit idley by and not shoot the aircraft out of the sky while 'pondering' the point?
"Don't take your guns to town son. (Or the Taliban will 'fix' you, pronnto!)
Good to see US Predators taking photos rather than innocent lives 'while Karzi' is 'looking' anyway. But, what can you do with these 'war addicted' US/NATO baby killers, huh folks?
Karzai has allies that mollycoddle Terrorist State of Pakistan
Little does Karzai realize but such a NATO troop withdrawal will only hasten the demise of his own regime.
Karzai knows all too well the bigger picture – he himself has enunciated it so many times.
Karzai himself had told a news conference in Kabul on 7/29/2010 after WikiLeaks leaks, “The time has come for our international allies to know that the war against terrorism is not in Afghanistan’s homes and villages. But rather this war is in the sanctuaries, funding centers and training places of terrorism which are in Pakistan. Our international allies have the ability to destroy these Pakistani sanctuaries, but the question is why they are not doing it?“
Karzai also knows all too well that Taliban insurgency fueled from Pakistan has killed far many more innocent Afghan civilians.
Karzai’s problem has been that he has not been able to force US/NATO allies to go after the Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan. His US/NATO allies want to mollycoddle Pakistan rather than save Afghanistan.
Writing is on the wall – it is only a matter of time before Taliban rule returns in Afghanistan.
The foreign policy of the US toward Asian countries during the Cold War was one of either propping up a military dictatorship, or bombing the countries where opposition to the dictatorships the US created, funded, and supported existed, and falsely claiming these countries were part of the "Free World." In the Philippines the US help destroy the Huk popular insurrection, and installed and supported the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. In Korea the US supported Syngman Rhee. In Vietnam, the US installed and supported Ngo Dinh Diem. All of these leaders were dictators who maintained their political rule by the arrest, torture, and execution of their political opponents, and the supression of democracy..
"Is rio orange war always comparateur forfait inevitable ?"
MaximB
The one thing she did get to do was travel as first lady. Although it may not appear that she did anything in those meetings, she did get to see how Bill did it..
"Is rio orange war always forfait b and you inevitable ?"
MaximB
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