| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| In Afghanistan, U.S. losing patience as deadline for long-term deal nears |
| 2013-10-12 |
[Washington Post] During a testy video conference in June, President B.O. drew a line in the sand for Afghanistan's Caped President 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... . If there was no agreement by Oct. 31 on the terms for keeping a residual U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, Obama warned him, the United States would withdraw all of its troops at the end of 2014. With that deadline less than three weeks away and deep rifts persisting, the White House appears increasingly willing to abandon plans for a long-term, costly partnership with Afghanistan. Despite the Pentagon's pleas for patience, much of the rest of the administration is fed up with Karzai and sees Afghanistan as a fading priority amid far more ominous threats elsewhere in the world. Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrived in Kabul Friday on an unannounced visit in an effort to convince Karzai that the administration is serious. "October 31st is our goal," a senior administration official said. "The president has been clear. There can be no reason" for failure "other than the fact that the Afghans don't want what we're offering." Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato... serious new irritants in the relationship have convinced Karzai that he was right to question American good faith in year-old negotiations on a deal. The accord is considered critical for the international community to continue funding the Afghan government and shoring up its nascent security forces. Under the Bilateral Security Agreement, or BSA, the United States plans to leave a still-unspecified number of troops -- between 5,000 and 10,000, most probably -- in Afghanistan to train and advise its security forces after the final withdrawal of what are now 52,000 combat and support troops. Karzai was enraged several weeks ago, Afghan officials said, when U.S. forces forcibly took custody of a senior Pak Taliban leader whom Afghan intelligence was trying to recruit. In the previously unreported incident, U.S. forces intercepted an Afghan government convoy and seized the leader in Pashtun-infested Logar province, Karzai front man Aimal Faizi said. In doing so, Faizi added, the Americans foiled a months-long bid by the Afghan government to wean the Taliban capo, identified by others as Latif Mehsud, from the battlefield and use him to help launch substantive peace talks. Faizi called the seizure a major breach of illusory sovereignty. Although Karzai has not mentioned the case publicly, his private fury has been reflected in recent suggestions that Afghanistan might forgo a bilateral pact. In a separate incident, Pakistain last month freed a top Afghan Taliban official, Abdul Ghani Baradar, whom Karzai sees as a possible interlocutor for his peace efforts and whose release he had long demanded. This week, however, Pakistain again placed Baradar under house arrest in the port city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Karzai immediately suspected an American hand at work; U.S. officials said they feared that Baradar would return to plotting attacks against American forces in Afghanistan if he were left on the loose. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Damn the Caped Crooksader and the DreamMerchant, now there's a pair that deserve each other. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-10-12 00:57 |
| #1 And iff the shutdown continues after October 17th or 31st [November 1], the Bammer = already Bad Economy, Debt, Sequester now Shutdown-hit USA may be so deep in default it can't keep any US Troops in Aghanistan for 2014 anyway. * INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > A BROKE + BROKEN US GOVERNMENT. * CBS NEWS LOCAL > TALIBAN MOCK SHUTDOWN: [US = "empty-headed"] LAWMAKERS "SUCKING THE BLOOD OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE". * SAME > WALL STREET: WE WILL LOSE OUR POWER SEAT IFF US DEFAULTS. Lest we fergit, TOPIX, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > QARI NASRALLAH VOWS FEARED TALIBAN COMMANDER MULLAH OMAR WILL RETURN TO [formally = legally? electorally?] RULE AFGHANISTAN. Ditto AYMAN-THE-Z-MAN [Zawahiri] in post-2014 Pakistan??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-10-12 00:16 |