Expressing shock and expressing indignation, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has called for custody of all Afghan prisoners and more control over U.S. miltiary operations in his country.
In future weeks it should become more clear whether this is due to his own concern over the reports, a clamor within his own military establishment and security forces for more control, or his responding to political backlash over Friday’s New York Times report which detailed the abuses of Afghani prisoners — including the deaths of two of them.
You can read our original post on the Times report allegations here. The Washington Post has this:
“It has shocked me thoroughly and we condemn it,” Karzai said at a news conference. “We want the U.S. government to take very, very strong action, to take away people like that.”
Karzai, a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism, left Saturday for the United States, where he plans to meet President Bush. Karzai wants to forge a long-term partnership with Washington, but he said he would reiterate a request for the return of Afghan prisoners and greater control over U.S. military operations. The United States commands an international force of about 18,300 troops in Afghanistan.
Karzai’s visit to Washington follows violent anti-American protests in Afghan cities prompted by a Newsweek report that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran. Sixteen people were killed and many wounded in the violence.
Many Afghans have criticized U.S. troops for allegedly heavy-handed tactics such as breaking into people’s homes during operations. Karzai said all searches should be carried out in cooperation with Afghan forces.
Karzai said he would also ask for “the return of prisoners to Afghanistan, all of them.” The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base on Cuba.
The Los Angeles Times notes that Karzai has balanced his statements of concern and demand for more control over the prisoners and military operations with some kind words about the United States:
The Pentagon insisted there was no evidence of systematic abuse and blamed any incidents on rogue soldiers and civilian contractors at the prison.
Karzai, a close ally of the United States who recently said Afghanistan should have a formal alliance with Washington, D.C., agreed with that assessment, saying the abuses by interrogators and guards outlined in the Army file did not suggest widespread problems in the U.S. military.
“The people of the United States are very kind people,” he said. “It is only one or two individuals who are bad and such individuals are found in any military in any society everywhere, including Afghanistan.”
But Karzai said he would raise his concerns in a meeting with Bush and called for the return of all Afghan prisoners to Afghanistan. Many Afghans remain at Guantanamo.
“No operations inside Afghanistan should take place without the consultation of the Afghan government,” he said.
But the Guardian notes that it’s “unlikely” the U.S. will give Afghanistan control over its operations for several reasons:
The US sees Afghanistan and the search for Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be in the border areas of Pakistan, as central to its self-proclaimed war on terror. In fact, America is keen to establish permanent military bases on Afghan soil, which could undermine Karzai’s authority and be hugely unpopular with many Afghans.
But the bottom line is now this: in dealing with Afghanistan, no matter how profound the client/state relationship is, Washington is now dealing with a democracy and Afghanistan’s leadership is going to respond to pressure from the population. The reports of alleged brutality meted out to Afghani prisoners (one who died, the Times reported, is believed to have been totally innocent) are likely to increase demands in Afghanistan for additional scrutiny on U.S. operations there.
UPDATE: We’re linking this also at the bottom of our Friday post on the Times story. Conservative blogger John Cole is MUST READING on this issue.
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.