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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Karzai wants US to stop flow of hard boyz from Pakistan |
| 2005-09-21 |
| President Hamid Karzai questioned Tuesday the need for major military operations in Afghanistan, saying that airstrikes were no longer effective and that the United States-led coalition should focus more on shutting off the flow of militants. In what seemed to be a reference to Pakistan, Mr. Karzai said the fight against terrorism should "concentrate on where terrorists are trained, on their bases, on the supply to them, on the money coming to them." Afghan officials have complained in recent months that Taliban insurgents are using Pakistan as a sanctuary where they recruit and train militants and obtain financing. He added that the United States should refrain from raiding houses without authorization from the Afghan government. Both the airstrikes, which can lead to civilian casualties, and the house searches have grown increasingly unpopular. It was not the first time the president has complained about the American military presence. In May his request for more authority over military operations by the 20,000-member force was rebuffed by President Bush. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, asked at a Washington news conference about Mr. Karzai's remarks, conceded that airstrikes were less effective "when you don't have a massed army on the ground or large puddles of enemies." But he said the United States was already coordinating closely with the Afghan government on counterterrorism activities. In his first comments to journalists since Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on Sunday, Mr. Karzai expressed "relief and satisfaction" that they had come off without any major incidents. He said the fact that Afghans had voted in spite of all the threats against them and the killings in the weeks before the elections was proof that Al Qaeda had been defeated in Afghanistan. The holding of parliamentary and provincial elections completes the international program for Afghanistan's transition laid down in the Bonn accords of 2001, but Mr. Karzai warned that it did not mean Afghanistan was now capable of standing on its own. "We have just begun the foundations," he said. "Institutionally we are very weak." The country lacks the resources and human capital to run an effective civil service, is struggling to raise $350 million in revenues annually and cannot yet pay for its own army, police service and administration, he said. Mr. Karzai said he was appealing to foreign governments to direct assistance away from reflief organizations and toward investment in trade and industry. He said he had specifically requested help from international backers, including the United States, in building reservoirs and electric power plants. "I would like to concentrate on that," he said. "Roads and electricity are what the Afghan people ask for." He also said Pakistan had formally proposed to build a fence to stem the flow of insurgents but said he had rejected the idea. The 1,500-mile border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has never been officially determined, and both countries continue to use the administrative division, known as the Durrand Line, that was drawn by the British more than 100 years ago. Mr. Karzai said building a wall would be extremely difficult because the Durrand Line divides tribes and families, adding "It is separating people, not preventing terrorism." Pakistan's idea for a fence, first suggested by President Pervez Musharraf last week, was formally proposed in a letter to the Afghan government. But Afghan officials, who asked not to be identified because they did not want to be seen as criticizing Pakistan, have suggested that the proposal is an effort to divert international pressure on Islamabad to crack down on insurgents' networks. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 Mr. Karzai said building a wall would be extremely difficult because the Durrand Line divides tribes and families, adding "It is separating people, not preventing terrorism." In an ideal world, security and keeping families/tribes together wouldn't be a problem there. We DO NOT live in an ideal world. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-09-21 14:01 |
| #2 OTOH, Leaving aside the question of how long a 2400 Km fence would take to build, such a fence wouldn't do much good if the Taliban infiltration is being facilated by the ISI and the provincial government. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2005-09-21 00:57 |
| #1 Article: But Afghan officials, who asked not to be identified because they did not want to be seen as criticizing Pakistan, have suggested that the proposal is an effort to divert international pressure on Islamabad to crack down on insurgents' networks. It wouldn't do to shut down the flow of heroin to Pakistani ports, would it? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-21 00:29 |