Obama and Karzai: 'On the same page' or at 'the end of the rope'?
| WASHINGTON
President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued starkly diverging appraisals of US-Afghanistan relations Friday, pointing to the extent of the impact from last weekend鈥檚 shooting rampage in which a US soldier is accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the two leaders 鈥渨ere very much on the same page鈥� in an early morning phone call that Mr. Obama placed Friday to Mr. Karzai.
By contrast, the Afghan leader told family members of Sunday鈥檚 shooting victims assembled at the presidential palace in Kabul that US-Afghan relations are at 鈥渢he end of the rope.鈥�
The deepening tensions surfaced the same day the alleged shooter in Sunday鈥檚 rampage, whom reports have identified as Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, was being flown to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas to await charges. Afghan officials had demanded that the shooter face trial in Afghanistan, but he was quickly whisked out of the country after the shooting.
The villagers told Karzai that the killings were not the result of a lone gunman, which contradicts the US military鈥檚 version of events. Karzai said US cooperation and sharing of information on the massacre has been 鈥減oor.鈥�
The two leaders鈥� discussion focused on Karzai鈥檚 demand Thursday that foreign troops pull back from Afghan villages 鈥� a shift that, if carried out, would throw into disarray NATO鈥檚 counterinsurgency strategy of operating alongside Afghan security forces to train them while winning over Afghan 鈥渉earts and minds.鈥�
US officials have said they doubted Karzai was serious 鈥� and was understandably letting off steam in the wake of Sunday鈥檚 horrendous killings 鈥� since following through on Karzai鈥檚 demand would expose villages to increased Taliban activity.
In a joint statement issued following Obama鈥檚 phone call, Obama and Karzai said they 鈥渁greed to further discuss concerns 鈥� about the presence of foreign troops in Afghan villages.鈥�
But Karzai gave the conversation a different spin in his meeting with families of the shooting victims.
鈥淭his morning, Obama called regarding this issue鈥� of his demand that foreign soldiers leave Afghan villages, Karzai told the families, according to the Associated Press. 鈥淗e asked, 鈥楧id you announce this?鈥� I said, 鈥榊es, I announced it,' 鈥� Karzai said. 鈥淚 insist on this issue.鈥�
Karzai never has warmed to the strategy of having foreign troops live and operate among villagers, insisting that the close proximity of Western soldiers and conservative rural inhabitants creates more problems than it addresses. He has also said that the Taliban are not generally in villages but operate from remote locations, and that placing the soldiers among the people takes the war to them.
The US-Afghan tensions take place as the two countries negotiate an agreement for a continued US presence in Afghanistan after the completion of NATO鈥檚 combat mission at the end of 2014. Some Afghanistan experts say Karzai may be assuming a hard line with Obama as part of a negotiating stance.
The two sides had already reached agreement on one prickly issue 鈥� conditions for the Afghans to hold and eventually release detainees currently under US control 鈥� before Sunday鈥檚 massacre. Some officials from both sides had suggested that an accord was not far off on the next big hurdle: whether or not remaining US forces focused on counterterror operations will be allowed to continue the practice of night raids.
Obama has said the US intends to conclude the strategic partnership agreement before NATO leaders meet in Chicago in May to map out the alliance鈥檚 exit strategy from Afghanistan.
