Karzai's remarks concern Petraeus

WTF?

Karzai Wants the U.S. to leave the Taliban Alone ?
Why else would he say this.

I say Predator drone strikes in Afghanistan now.
It's what we need to pick up the pace a little bit and to tell Karzai to STFU, And sit in the corner till it is over.



The Washington Post
Officials said Petraeus expressed "astonishment and disappointment" with Karzai's call, in an interview Saturday with The Washington Post, to "reduce military operations" and end U.S. Special Operations raids in southern Afghanistan that coalition officials said have killed or captured hundreds of Taliban commanders in recent months.

In a meeting Sunday morning with Ashraf Ghani, who leads the Afghan government's planning on transition, Petraeus made what several officials described as "hypothetical" references to an inability to continue U.S. operations in the face of Karzai's remarks.

Karzai Casts Doubt Over Major Kandahar Offensive

Mr Karzai ,Seems to be changing his tune on some issues with the United States,
He seems to be taking the side of the Taliban more and more .
Who Knows if he is serious or just being an Ass Clown and trying to tell his people what they want to hear to strengthen his political position !


Foxnews
The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has cast doubt over NATO’s planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, as more than 10,000 American troops pour in for the fight.

Karzai threatened to delay or even cancel the operation — one of the biggest of the nine-year war — after being confronted in Kandahar by elders who said it would bring strife, not security, to his home province.

Visiting last week to rally support for the offensive, the president was instead overwhelmed by a barrage of complaints about corruption and misrule. As he was heckled at a shura of 1,500 tribal leaders and elders, he appeared to offer them a veto over military action. “Are you happy or unhappy for the operation to be carried out?” he asked.

The elders shouted back: “We are not happy.”

“Then until the time you say you are happy, the operation will not happen,” Karzai replied.

General Stanley McChrystal, the NATO commander, who was sitting behind him, looked distinctly apprehensive. The remarks have compounded U.S. anger and bewilderment with Karzai, who has already accused the United States of rigging last year’s presidential elections and even threatened to switch sides to join the Taliban.

Kabul "under control" after brazen Taliban assault

How does Karzais New Cabinet members feel , now that the Taliban have attempted to " Disrupt " the swearing in cerimonies ( Attempted to kill them ) ?
And all those pesky shoppers got what they deserved again , They Can't just go around Shopping and having a decent time , when the Talibanz is fighting for the sake of Allah , I mean seriously ! (Sarcoff)


KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban gunmen launched a brazen assault on targets in the center of Kabul on Monday, With suicide bombers blowing themselves up at several locations and heavily armed militants fighting a pitched battle in a shopping center.

The insurgents failed in an apparent attempt to seize government buildings, but demonstrated their ability to cause mayhem at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to rally support for an expanded military mission to fight them.

It was the worst attack on the city in nearly a year. Gunfire and loud explosions shook the city and a huge column of smoke towered over its center, pouring out of the shopping center where gunmen battled security forces for hours.

After more than four hours of gunbattles, President Hamid Karzai said in a statement that "the security situation is under control and order has once again been restored."

The Taliban said 20 of their fighters were involved in the attacks, which they said targeted the presidential palace, justice ministry, ministry of mines and a presidential administrative building, all clustered in the center of town.

When the attacks began outside Karzai's sprawling palace compound, he was inside swearing in new members of his cabinet.

"As we were conducting the ceremony of swearing in, a terrorist attack in a part of Kabul close to the presidential palace is going on. This is just one of the dangers," Karzai told ministers. "The danger that could harm Afghanistan is sowing national discord among Afghans."

U.S. envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke, who had left Kabul hours earlier for New Delhi, said: "The people who are doing this certainly will not survive the attack nor will they succeed, but we can expect this sort of a thing on a regular basis. That is who the Taliban are."

Afghan president welcomes U.S. strategy review

Nice to see everyone in agreement that Al Qaida needs to go , I don't think that Iran is going to be to helpful with anything the U.S. is involved in Though .

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday he is in "full agreement" with the U.S. review of strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan and said the plan to include Iran in a regional role was a "positive thing."

"It is exactly what the Afghan people were hoping for," Karzai said of the review.

"The plan to include Iran in a regional role ... it's a positive thing and we hope to use this opportunity in a positive way for the good of Afghanistan," he told a news conference.

President Barack Obama unveiled a new war strategy for Afghanistan on Friday. The strategy's key goal is to crush al Qaeda militants in Afghanistan and in Pakistan who he said were plotting new attacks on the United States.

"We back this and we will be working very, very closely with the U.S. government to prepare for and to work on implementing everything laid out in this strategy," Karzai said.

The new strategy comes with violence in Afghanistan at its highest level since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The insurgents, often operating from safe havens in the border regions of Pakistan, have escalated their attacks, with violence spreading from the south and east to the outskirts of the capital, Kabul.

Security for any Afghan Taliban talks, Karzai says

I would not trust the Taliban as far as I could toss a Grenade at them ( I don't throw well ) But Mr. Karzai , Along with the Obamasiah seem to think that they might be trusted !
I guess it is not out of the realm of possibilities , But we are talking about the Taliban , The guys who throw Battery acid in school girls faces , the guys who just willy nilly ,kill anyone they please , even their own for speaking against them and their suicide bombing campaign !
Trust ? Hell no ! Talk , from a distance ,Maybe ? Surround ,contain /kill ! everyday of the week!!!

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday he would guarantee security for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar if he ever wanted to negotiate and said Western allies should remove him or leave if they disagreed with that.

With the Taliban insurgency spreading seven years after the hardline Islamists were forced from power, the possibility of talks with more moderate Taliban leaders is increasingly being considered, both in Afghanistan and among its allies.

The Afghan government says it is willing to talk to anyone who recognizes the constitution.

A tentative first step toward talks was taken in September when a group of pro-government Afghan officials and former Taliban officials met in Saudi Arabia for discussions on how to end the conflict.

But the Taliban have rejected any suggestion of talks as long as foreign troops remain. Karzai, who visited the United States and Britain last week, said that Taliban condition was unacceptable.

However, Karzai said he would guarantee the safety of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar if he ever wanted to talk peace.

"If I hear from him that he is willing to come to Afghanistan or to negotiate for peace ... I, as the president of Afghanistan, will go to any length providing protection," Karzai said.

"If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, the international community has two choices: remove me or leave if they disagree," he said.

"PROVE THEMSELVES"

But Karzai said there was a way to go before a security guarantee for Mullah Omar was even an issue. He was still waiting for the Taliban to prove that they wanted peace.

"We are not in that stage yet. Right now, I have to hear it from the Taliban leadership, that they are willing to have peace in Afghanistan. They must prove themselves," he said.

Mullah Omar carries a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. As with Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders, Omar is believed to be in hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Violence in Afghanistan has surged over the past two years, raising the doubts about prospects for the country and its Western-backed government.

About 70,000 foreign troops, about half of them American, are struggling against the Taliban, whose influence, and attacks, are spreading through the countryside in the south, east and west.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has also suggested he was open to talks with more moderate Taliban leaders to explore whether a strategy used in Iraq of talking to enemies, that is credited with helping turn around the situation there, would work in Afghanistan.