Speaking today about the prospect of an open-ended US presence in his country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai insisted that any “strategic partnership” with the United States would depend on the Americans satisfying long-standing demands.
Among those demands, Karzai insisted, are that the US no longer take prisoners nor operate their own prisons. Likewise, he reiterated his demand that the US immediately stop launching night raids on homes.
Though a larger number of civilians are actually killed in air strikes, the night raids are particularly galling to Afghans uncomfortable with the notion of foreign troops bursting into their homes in the middle of the night and rounding them up on suspicion. Such raids, including one earlier this month in Khost, regularly end with civilian deaths and with NATO claiming even the children within are “Taliban.”
Karzai has repeatedly confirmed that the US is seeking permanent military bases in Afghanistan. It is unlikely the US will agree to an end to night raids over Karzai’s demands, though different military commanders have disagreed on how widespread the raids should be.
AntiWar has reprinted three stories from the establishment press that have given widely different insurgent combat deaths for an action in Paktika province. The first story by the Washington
Post claimed 50 insurgents died. The next day an AP story made it 80 insurgent dead. Now today the BBC claims at least 35 were killed. What is really going on in Paktika? Four US soldiers have died there this month according to the DOD.
Is Hammid Karzi about to sell Afghanistan to highest bidder.., are we making deals here Mr. President…! I just wonder how much of it is for you personally now that your half brother not there to make deals for you or on behalf of you.., So you have come so low in your thoughts about Afghanistan that you openly selling it to whoever depending on what they pay..,! What a leader of a kind.
I want to know why the MSM isn't hammering the Administration every chance they get about these "permanent military bases it wants in Afghanistan. It the Administration could be forced to admit it what they're after then the American people will have, dare I say…"actionable information" upon which the American people can then decide whether they've been snowed all along – "withdraw troops"…yeah, right.
Sure, old Karzai says some really far out stuff on a regular basis but sometimes he just plain states the truth. Maybe we can get Panetta to go "off the record" – you know, do his Italian thing. It's probably the only time we'll get a straight line.
The MSM isn't going to hammer Obama on foreign policy because he is doing just what they want.
Obama and Clinton like Bush are part of the wealthy establishment. They want absolute control of dwindling oil reserves and will punish anyone and any country that dares stand in their way.
No body cares what Karsai as he is american slave. mericans believe on the rule of jungle and is not a civilised nation as they are robbers and killers around the world.
where is the shameless uno and its idiot secreatary general who gave sasnctitiy to us occupation of iraq and afgansitan adn now libya/why shoudl others follow un respolutions when usa and it allies donto folow basic tenet of un whichis sovernity of nation states?
un ,nato and england and usa msut be dismantled whole way -not regime change ehre-whole way destruction of thse evl entities.itis world war three waged on rest of nonanglos world
Conditional on how much money they put in his pockets, no doubt.