KABUL—Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded Thursday that the United States pull back from combat outposts and confine its troops to military bases, an apparent response to Sunday’s shooting rampage by a U.S. staff sergeant.
Meanwhile, the Taliban said it was suspending preliminary peace talks with the United States because of Washington’s “alternating and ever changing position,” and accused the U.S. of reneging on promises to take meaningful steps toward a prisoner swap.
The announcements followed a meeting between Karzai and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kabul, after which U.S. officials said the two sides had made progress discussing the contentious issue of nighttime raids--but did not mention any discussion of a pullback.
The latest developments reflect unprecedented strains in the U.S.-Aghan relationship, which reached a low point last month after the burning of Korans by U.S. troops set off a wave of violent protests and retaliatory killings.
Support for the war is slipping both in the United States and among Afghans. Sunday’s massacre of 16 civilians--and the transfer of the staff sergeant suspected in those killings to a U.S. base in Kuwait--further outraged the Afghan people.
The killings, Karzai’s office said in a statement Thursday, have “damaged the U.S. and Afghan relationship.”
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This is of great concern as the return of POW Bowe Bergdahl is in jeopardy as all prisoner exchanges are on hold... Contact your senators and congressmen and ask them how this will affect the recovery of Bowe Bergdahl. He is alive and awaits repatriation..Leave no one behind? Yup, there's still one there...........................
IMO we ought do Kar(Bon) zai one better and ought pull all our troops out as soon as we can load them and their useful equipment on board C-130 aircraft and leave Afghanistan. Any equipment left behind ought be rigged to go BOOOM as soon as our last aircraft is safely in the air. Let them clean up their own bloody freakin' house.
Pull out and witness how fast Karzai will be gone.
Roger that,Jerry.
Enough of this crap, bring OUR TROOPS HOME, they've been there long enough, how about we send all the politicians there instead!
I 'd be willing to bet if they or their loved ones were there instead, the outcome would be quite different, the war probably wouldn't have lasted even a quarter as long!
I think we should let them exterminate each other, they hate us and anything to do with AMERICA, the feeling is more than mutual!
Its time to let karzi, deal with his own situation and time for all Americans to leave the place immediately
Its not in our Constitution to be over there fighting any mans war. They did not attack us and unless there is a real reason and we can control how it is going to take place we need to say Sa la Ve