Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai jumped the shark with a new allegation that will be particularly shocking to American families who lost loved ones in Afghanistan: he’s suggesting that the United States and the Taliban have been working in collusion.
The AP lead is blunt:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday accused the Taliban and the U.S. of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave — an allegation the top American commander in Afghanistan rejected as “categorically false.
The BBC’s report is a bit more diplomatic in tone, but it’s impact will the same: it will be shocking to policy makers who spend so much time on the war, politicians who defended the presence in Afghanistan, and families mourning men and women who lost their lives over there:
President Hamid Karzai has issued a stinging rebuke to the US and the Taliban, saying
they are both guilty of sowing fears for post-2014 Afghanistan.He said Taliban suicide attacks on Saturday were aimed at intimidation that would prolong the presence of international troops in Afghanistan.
The troops are scheduled to end combat missions in 2014.
Mr Karzai has cancelled a scheduled press conference with visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The Presidential Palace cited scheduling pressures. US officials cited security concerns.
President Hamid Karzai has issued a stinging rebuke to the US and the Taliban, saying they are both guilty of sowing fears for post-2014 Afghanistan.
He said Taliban suicide attacks on Saturday were aimed at intimidation that would prolong the presence of international troops in Afghanistan.
The troops are scheduled to end combat missions in 2014.
Mr Karzai has cancelled a scheduled press conference with visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The Presidential Palace cited scheduling pressures. US officials cited security concerns.
NATO issued a swift response:
Responding to Mr Karzai’s speech, US and Nato forces commander Gen Joseph Dunford said: “We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the last 12 years, to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage.”
The Taliban denied its working with the U.S. and the U.S. issued a quick statement:
A statement from the US embassy in Kabul said Washington had “long supported an Afghan-led process for Afghans to talk to Afghans”.
But it pointed out that the Taliban had suspended talks with the US in March 2012 and it was “up to the Taliban to take the next steps”.
The BBC adds:
The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says relations between Mr Karzai and the US are in bad shape, with the president angry that the US has not transferred Afghan prisoners held in US custody at Bagram prison.
The Afghan government also accused US-led forces and Afghans working with them of abusing and arresting university students, in violation of national sovereignty.
Karzai accused the United States and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed to maintain peace in the country beyond next year, when most foreign combat forces are due to leave.
Then, his government alleged U.S.-led forces and Afghans working with them were abusing and arresting university students and urged them to stop.
Referring to two bomb attacks on Saturday that killed 17 people, Karzai said the blasts were aimed at convincing people that the Taliban would return if U.S. forces withdrew.
“Those bombs … were in the service of the Americans to keep foreigners in Afghanistan longer, to keep them here,” Karzai told a gathering to mark International Women’s Day.
The Taliban have for years demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces and have never suggested that they wanted them to stay.
Karzai has a history of making inflammatory remarks, particularly railing against the United States with which he has an uneasy relationship.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.