Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the US-led coalition’s “hunt, capture, and kill” military strategy in Afghanistan — where the targets include Taliban as well as Al Qaeda militants — not only is not working, it is actually counterproductive in that it produces more insurgents than it eliminates.
This is significant because until now the US has argued that the Afghan government needs and wants NATO’s military presence in order to not be immediately overthrown by the Taliban. Now it appears that even the Afghan government wants us out.
Afghan leader says U.S. must reduce troop presence
By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post, November 14, 2010
President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that the United States must reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations in Afghanistan and end the … night raids that aggravate Afghans and could exacerbate the Taliban insurgency.
In an interview, Karzai said he wanted American troops off the roads and out of Afghan homes and that the long-term presence of so many foreign soldiers would only worsen the war. His comments placed him at odds with U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus, who has made capture-and-kill missions a central component of his counterinsurgency strategy, and who claims the 30,000 new troops have made substantial progress in beating back the insurgency.
…
In an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors in his office in Kabul, Karzai said he was speaking out not to criticize the United States but in the belief that candor could improve what he called a “grudging” relationship between the countries. … And he said Afghans have lost patience with the presence of American soldiers in their homes and armored vehicles on their roads.
Karzai has long been publicly critical of civilian casualties at the hands of U.S. and NATO troops and has repeatedly called for curtailing night raids into Afghan homes. Under Petraeus and his predecessor, such raids by U.S. Special Operations troops have increased sharply, to about 200 a month, or six times the number being carried out 18 months ago, said a senior NATO military official, … These operations capture or kill their target 50 to 60 percent of the time, …
To American commanders, the nighttime strike missions are a crucial weapon to capture Taliban commanders, disrupt bomb-making networks and weaken the 30,000-man insurgency in Afghanistan. In the past three months, U.S. Special Operations troops have killed or captured 368 insurgent leaders. …
But Karzai was emphatic that U.S. troops must cease such operations, which he said violate the sanctity of Afghan homes and incite more people to join the insurgency.
[Associated Press version of same story]
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- Afghan Civilian Deaths Increase 14% from 2008 to 2009
- Ten Reasons a Troop Surge in Afghanistan is a Mistake
- Update on May 4-5 Afghan Airstrike Incident
- Memo to Obama, Clinton, and Gates: Stop Digging!
- Don’t Call It “Collateral Damage”
- Child Casualties Are Not Acceptable
