| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Karzai asks US to scale down Afghan military operations |
| 2010-11-15 |
| Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in an interview published Sunday, called on the United States to scale down its military activity in his country. 'The time has come to reduce military operations,' Karzai said in an interview with the Washington Post newspaper. The president said the Afghan population was unable to cope with the massive international military presence and wanted to see an end to the 'intrusiveness' of the soldiers in daily life. Karzai said he was speaking out not to criticize the United States but in the belief that candour could improve what he called a 'grudging' relationship between the countries. The president said his people were getting impatient with a war that had been going on for nearly a decade. In particular, he wanted to see an end to nighttime raids by foreign troops on Afghan homes. 'The Afghan people don't like these raids, if there is any raid it has to be done by the Afghan government within the Afghan laws,' he said. The night raids are a key element of the strategy adopted by US and NATO troops in their counterinsurgency tactics. Karzai has long been publicly critical of civilian casualties at the hands of US and NATO troops and has repeatedly called for curtailing night raids into Afghan homes. Such raids by US Special Operations troops have increased sharply, to about 200 a month, the newspaper said. In the past three months, the troops have killed or captured 368 insurgent leaders. Either he is envisioning the US bugging out, so is hoping to cover his rear when they do, or he is having his own criminal enterprises shut down, or he is just lying on general principles. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #27 Karzai asks US to scale down Afghan military operations Translation = we are giving the terrorists a severe beatdown. We're winning. |
| Posted by: Dinah Kanser 2010-11-15 23:09 |
| #26 Max was all about the visuals. I can see it in my h-he-head nnnnn-now! |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-11-15 22:42 |
| #25 Chris is really Max Headroom. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-11-15 22:37 |
| #24 That's one hell of a case of commentorrhea there, chris... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-11-15 22:19 |
| #23 Time to send "Partition" Joe Biden in and split this fractious country up. Perhaps the three or four new Presidents of North, East, West and South Afghanistan would be grateful enough to tell President Karzai of Central Afghanistan, pork-be-upon-him, to put a sock in it before a right thinking non-corrupt American soldier kicks his ass. |
| Posted by: rammer 2010-11-15 21:56 |
| #22 Severe stuttering there. Don't drink and post, kids. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-11-15 21:22 |
| #21 I liked comments #10 and #13, but #11, #12, and #14-18 I strongly disagree with |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-11-15 20:13 |
| #20 The allies must really be hitting the drug business where it hurts. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-11-15 19:40 |
| #19 Severe stuttering there. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-11-15 18:39 |
| #18 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #17 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #16 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #15 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #14 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #13 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #12 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #11 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #10 lets leave real dwmn fast without giving karzai advanced warning.See how long it takes the talibunnies too skin him alive. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-11-15 16:27 |
| #9 When your country becomes a base and a training center for world wide terrorism, you can expect angry visitors coming by from time to time to delouse the place. That bears repeating, especially to those who doubt our purpose in the 'Stan. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-11-15 15:01 |
| #8 Such a disagreeable little puppet. Somebody should ask him if he wants to exchange his strings for a bullet. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-11-15 14:38 |
| #7 Karzai might be handing Obama the keys to the exit if he's not careful. Very few folks want to spend blood and treasure defending the ungrateful or corrupt. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2010-11-15 13:44 |
| #6 When your country becomes a base and a training center for world wide terrorism, you can expect angry visitors coming by from time to time to delouse the place. Karzai is trying to position himself in a post-us Afghanistan. I do not think that the Taliban or Al-Q will have much patience for him. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-11-15 11:59 |
| #5 Obviously Mr. Karzi hasn't been involved with many raids. He needs to look out for the lives of the soldiers conducting these raids. Nightime raids are more effective for many reasons, but in Afghanistan, our night vision capability is unmatched. Civilians get shit on in every war, and usually, no one feels worse about civilian casualties than the man on the ground who pulls the trigger. |
| Posted by: Grunt_0369 2010-11-15 07:54 |
| #4 "'The Afghan people don't like these raids, if there is any raid it has to be done by the Afghan government within the Afghan laws,' Somehow I feel that people will prefer US raids... after all they are ONLY looking for terrorists... |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2010-11-15 06:41 |
| #3 Either he is envisioning the US bugging out, so is hoping to cover his rear when they do, or he is having his own criminal enterprises shut down, or he is just lying on general principles. D) All of the above... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-11-15 00:38 |
| #2 if he doesn't make it to switzerland with bags of cash and prozac hang him from a tank gun with his balls in his mouth a la najibullah |
| Posted by: SON OF TOLUI 2010-11-15 00:37 |
| #1 Say yes but ignore him. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-11-15 00:12 |