By KIRK SEMPLE
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai bluntly rebuked NATO on Wednesday for its faltering campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda and demanded a timetable for the seven-year war here to end.
Mr. Karzai’s remarks, at a news conference with the secretary general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, reflected dwindling public support for the war here and Mr. Karzai’s own political vulnerabilities. In the United States, however, the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is planning a significant increase in the Afghanistan war effort as it scales back the American military deployment in Iraq.
“How long will this war go?” Mr. Karzai asked. “Afghanistan can’t continue to suffer a war without end.”
Mr. Karzai’s comments echoed remarks he made here on Tuesday to a visiting United Nations Security Council delegation. They seemed to be part of a strategy he has adopted in recent months to appear more in control of the country and more assertive in his dealings with foreign powers, even if the populist tenor of his remarks risks alienating the foreign backers who have channeled billions of dollars into reconstruction and the counterinsurgency fight.
Amid worsening security and economic conditions, Mr. Karzai, who faces re-election next year, has been trying to counter rising dissatisfaction and criticism that he is little more than an ineffective puppet of foreign masters.
In recent months he has adopted, at least in public, an increasingly adversarial posture toward NATO and American forces deployed here, denouncing what he has called heavy-handed bombings and house raids that have caused civilian casualties, offended cultural sensitivities and undermined popular support for the war that routed the Taliban in late 2001.
He has also criticized the detention of hundreds of suspects for years without trial at Bagram air base and at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
While many in the foreign diplomatic community attribute the president’s criticisms to the 2009 elections, he has struck a supportive chord with many Afghans who have lost patience with the NATO-led effort, especially because of the civilian casualties.
On Wednesday, Mr. Karzai said that if he could, he would ground American warplanes before they could inflict civilian casualties and destroy villages.
“We have no other choice, we have no power to stop the planes,” he said. “I wish I could intercept the planes that are going to bomb Afghan villages, but that’s not in my hands.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Karzai, speaking to the Security Council delegates, assailed the foreign forces’ counterinsurgency strategy.
“The Afghans don’t understand anymore how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist” in spite of NATO’s presence, the president said, according to a transcript of the remarks distributed by his office.
“There must be a problem somewhere,” he said, then suggested that “the international community didn’t fight the Taliban properly.”
“Give the Afghan people a timeline,” he said.
At the Wednesday news conference, with Mr. Scheffer standing beside him, Mr. Karzai refined his demand. “I didn’t ask them to set a time for their withdrawal,” he said. “I asked them to set a time for success.”
“Our villages have been bombarded,” he continued, “our people have been killed.”
Mr. Scheffer responded that foreign forces “will stay as long as we are welcome” and said it was his hope that Afghan forces could assume full responsibility for safeguarding the country “sooner rather than later.”
Mr. Karzai’s call for a timetable was received warmly by his political supporters, but assailed by some critics who said it was merely an attempt to buoy his electoral support.
Salih Mohammad Registani, a member of the parliamentary opposition, said that Mr. Karzai’s demand was in theory a “good thing,” in part because it might defuse tensions among neighboring countries wary of the American presence in Afghanistan.
But with Mr. Karzai’s political stock low and the Taliban insurgency strong, he said, the demand seems largely political.
“It’s only because he’s trying to draw support for the next election,” Mr. Registani said. He predicted that Mr. Karzai’s choice of words would “become anti-American.”
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai bluntly rebuked NATO on Wednesday for its faltering campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda and demanded a timetable for the seven-year war here to end.
Mr. Karzai’s remarks, at a news conference with the secretary general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, reflected dwindling public support for the war here and Mr. Karzai’s own political vulnerabilities. In the United States, however, the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is planning a significant increase in the Afghanistan war effort as it scales back the American military deployment in Iraq.
“How long will this war go?” Mr. Karzai asked. “Afghanistan can’t continue to suffer a war without end.”
Mr. Karzai’s comments echoed remarks he made here on Tuesday to a visiting United Nations Security Council delegation. They seemed to be part of a strategy he has adopted in recent months to appear more in control of the country and more assertive in his dealings with foreign powers, even if the populist tenor of his remarks risks alienating the foreign backers who have channeled billions of dollars into reconstruction and the counterinsurgency fight.
Amid worsening security and economic conditions, Mr. Karzai, who faces re-election next year, has been trying to counter rising dissatisfaction and criticism that he is little more than an ineffective puppet of foreign masters.
In recent months he has adopted, at least in public, an increasingly adversarial posture toward NATO and American forces deployed here, denouncing what he has called heavy-handed bombings and house raids that have caused civilian casualties, offended cultural sensitivities and undermined popular support for the war that routed the Taliban in late 2001.
He has also criticized the detention of hundreds of suspects for years without trial at Bagram air base and at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
While many in the foreign diplomatic community attribute the president’s criticisms to the 2009 elections, he has struck a supportive chord with many Afghans who have lost patience with the NATO-led effort, especially because of the civilian casualties.
On Wednesday, Mr. Karzai said that if he could, he would ground American warplanes before they could inflict civilian casualties and destroy villages.
“We have no other choice, we have no power to stop the planes,” he said. “I wish I could intercept the planes that are going to bomb Afghan villages, but that’s not in my hands.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Karzai, speaking to the Security Council delegates, assailed the foreign forces’ counterinsurgency strategy.
“The Afghans don’t understand anymore how come a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist” in spite of NATO’s presence, the president said, according to a transcript of the remarks distributed by his office.
“There must be a problem somewhere,” he said, then suggested that “the international community didn’t fight the Taliban properly.”
“Give the Afghan people a timeline,” he said.
At the Wednesday news conference, with Mr. Scheffer standing beside him, Mr. Karzai refined his demand. “I didn’t ask them to set a time for their withdrawal,” he said. “I asked them to set a time for success.”
“Our villages have been bombarded,” he continued, “our people have been killed.”
Mr. Scheffer responded that foreign forces “will stay as long as we are welcome” and said it was his hope that Afghan forces could assume full responsibility for safeguarding the country “sooner rather than later.”
Mr. Karzai’s call for a timetable was received warmly by his political supporters, but assailed by some critics who said it was merely an attempt to buoy his electoral support.
Salih Mohammad Registani, a member of the parliamentary opposition, said that Mr. Karzai’s demand was in theory a “good thing,” in part because it might defuse tensions among neighboring countries wary of the American presence in Afghanistan.
But with Mr. Karzai’s political stock low and the Taliban insurgency strong, he said, the demand seems largely political.
“It’s only because he’s trying to draw support for the next election,” Mr. Registani said. He predicted that Mr. Karzai’s choice of words would “become anti-American.”
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