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Petraeus Runs into Karzai's Resistance: Reports
[Quqnoos] General David Petraeus has met sharp resistance from the Afghan President over a US plan recruiting villagers, the Washington Post reportsAfter Karzai renewed his objections to the plan in a meeting with the new commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, it turned tense, according to US officials. The idea of recruiting villagers into local defence programmes is a key part of the US military strategy in Afghanistan, and Karzai's stance poses an early challenge to Petraeus as he tries to build a collaborative relationship with the Afghan leader. The US would like to expand the programme to about two dozen sites across Afghanistan and we are hoping to overcome Karzai's concerns, Senior US officials said. But the issue is delicate to many who fear that such experiments could lead Afghanistan further into warlordism and out-of-control militias. The Washington Post quoted from a senior Afghan official who was present at Karzai's meeting with Petraeus as saying, "We always have long meetings and many arguments, we always try to teach our foreign partners how to deal with a situation like this. We Afghans know better than you." A plan for local defence forces was expected to be endorsed Thursday in Kabul at a coordination meeting of Afghan officials with military and civilian representatives from donor countries. The endorsed plan is to be introducted at an International Conference in Kabul on 20th July. Posted by: Fred 2010-07-10 |
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