During an annual conference of ambassadors and consuls-general in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said the US and its allies should do what’s best for Afghanistan and leave.
“We want foreign troops to leave our villages, streets and bazaars, go to their bases and leave the country gradually by the end of 2014,” the president remarked, referring to the Obama administration’s stated deadline for a partial troop withdrawal.
Karzai explained that Afghans had suffered on a daily basis during the war on terrorism and that now is the time for the fight to be taken elsewhere in places where terrorists are sheltered and financed.
Karzai also said that in order for Afghanistan to be secure going forward, the US will have to come to grips with the fact that an Afghan-Iranian alliance is central.
The Afghan president reiterated the predictions of US politicians and military officials, that Afghan forces will be ready to take charge of security independently from NATO trainers.
But this really isn’t the case. All along, officials have quietly admitted that Afghan security forces are weak and untrained, and would probably fall apart (along with the state) without the NATO occupation.
And the withdrawal to be completed in 2014 won’t be a full withdrawal. Up to 10,000 US troops will remain in the country, training Afghan forces and executing house raids of suspected Taliban, etc. The occupation will be smaller, but will still exist.
As it is with teenagers who eventually grow up and leave the nest…it's time to let the Afghans go. They will succeed or fail but it should be on their owns terms. My guess is it'll be messy but they'll survive. It's time the US came home and took care of its own problems.
Well then do something about it Hamid. Telling Obama what you want is hardly going to impress the global interference zombies.
Karzai is a flip flopper. He wears a sharkfin hat, but he lacks a shark's bite. The US never belonged in Afghanistan or Iraq. The Graveyard of Empires will prevail. The US is like a rabid little puppy on a turntable throwing poisonous saliva in all directions.
Afganistan is to America what is has been to so many others in history including the USSR,THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES.
Until 2014?
That punk Karzai should have insisted upon the US criminals leaving right now.
Might as well leave Iraq, Libya, and Syria too and watch England fold like a wet napkin.
Why are we in Afghanistan ? The Taleban went to Texas to negotiate the Trans-Afghan Pipeline but they couldn´t agree. Now the pipeline is being built connecting the countries north of Afghanistan. We still don´t know who did 9/11. A few facts: nano-thermite was found by Niels Harrit and 8 more researchers. Nobody has suggested that OBL had nano-thermite. Another fact: Rumsfeld was Chief of NORAD for about a month but during 9/11. That´s the reason no aircraft intersepted.
Bothers me that he's putting it in the occupiers' terms: go-'fight-terrorism'-where-it-is. Why not tell 'em to take 'em to court? Some are in uniform, others in suits. Be sure to get them all.
'We want foreign troops to leave!'
'We are strong now, we can take on the Taliban!'
'The Afghan people are with us! They trust me not the Taliban.'
Man… Karzai needs to lay off that wack Afghan hashish. That's right Karzai, you and your junkie National Hashish Army need to come back down to earth.
I can imagine what had happened to the "best" army in history if they had faced a united Afghanistan. Or a united Iraq. Not a month had the "finest" armed forces of all time lasted.