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Karzai bans NATO strikes on Afghan homes
[Al Jazeera] [Al Jazeera] Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai  ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... , the Afghan president, has warned that the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces fighting in his country risk becoming an "occupying force" if they do not stop air strikes on Afghan civilian homes as they hunt armed fighters. On Tuesday, Karzai told news hounds in Kabul that "from this moment, air strikes on the houses of people are not allowed. "The people of Afghanistan so far have endured casualties and have given sacrifices. So these operations should not be used against Afghan people and their houses. That's why bombing Afghan houses is banned." The president's outspoken remarks came days after he issued a "last warning" to foreign forces over civilian casualties following Saturday's killingof 14 civilians, including women and kiddies in an air strike. NATO apology NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) later apologised over the incident in the restive southern province of Helmand. "If after the Afghan government said the aerial bombing of Afghan houses is banned and if it continues, then their presence will change from a war against terrorism to an occupying force," Karzai added. "And in that case, Afghan history is witness to how the Afghans deal with occupying forces," he said, making apparent reference to the historic defeats of foreign invasions, including that of the Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and withdrew 10 years later. No problem. We can leave now. You remember Najibullah, don't you? It was the president's strongest statement against the air strikes, which NATO says are a necessary weapon in the war against the Taliban insurgency. NATO says it never conducts such strikes without Afghan government co-ordination and approval. NATO officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Karzai's statement. Posted by: Fred 2011-06-01 |
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