Karzai Blasts Allies as Insurgents Attack Kabul Market
By ROD NORDLAND and RAY RIVERA
Published: June 18, 2011
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KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan launched a broadside against his coalition allies on Saturday, saying the motives behind their presence were suspect and even complaining that their weaponry is polluting his country.
Mr. Karzai denied earlier reports — including from his own statements — that his government was negotiating with Taliban leaders, but he said that the Americans were doing so. American officials have never publicly acknowledged such talks, and the Taliban have denied them categorically.
In late May, American officials were reported to have met with a senior aide to the fugitive Mullah Muhammad Omar at least three times in recent months in the first direct exploratory peace talks.
“You remember a few years ago I was saying thank you to the foreigners for their help, every minute we were thanking them. Now I have stopped saying that, except when Spanta forced me to say thank you,” he said, referring in a jocular way to his national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, who was present. Mr. Karzai made the remarks as part of an address to the Afghanistan Youth International Conference, an audience of young to middle-aged adults, and in response to questions from the audience. “They’re here for their own purposes, for their own goals and they’re using our soil for that.”
The Afghan president made his remarks as a battle was fought in a busy downtown wholesale market between an unknown number of gunmen and Afghan security forces. Two Afghan police officers were killed in the afternoon skirmish fought at the Mandavi market, said Gen. Mohammad Salngi, the police chief of Kabul Province. Two would-be suicide bombers were killed before they could detonate their vests, the general said.
Afghan soldiers were brought in from nearby Kapisa Province to help in the battle at the market, one of the busiest shopping sections in the capital where businessmen come to buy wholesale foods, textiles and other goods. Soldiers were seen dragging the dead body of one of the gunmen, who appeared to be shot through the chest and the right eye. The gunman was wearing an Afghan uniform.
In his remarks, Mr. Karzai complained of the environmental damage from coalition weapons.
“Every time when their planes fly it makes smoke, when they drop bombs they have chemical materials in them, our people get killed but also our environment is damaged,” Mr. Karzai said. Some weapons used by the foreign forces have nuclear components, he said, and that issue was under investigation. He apparently was referring to certain types of ammunition and armor that use uranium or other radioactive materials, although he gave no specifics.
“There are 140 countries here in our country, they’re using different explosive materials, chemical materials and all these things. We will talk to them and ask them about all these things because this has a negative impact on our environment, our animals, our people, so we will ask them about this. They should not think we are uneducated and do not know anything.”
There are actually 48 NATO and allied countries with forces in Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai also complained about the damage done by NATO trucks to Afghan roads, many of which have been improved with NATO aid. “They have not built the roads for us but for themselves, with their big trucks, with big heavy tires and chains, so as much as they help our country, they get it back more than a hundred times.” The heavy pollution of Kabul, too, was a consequence of the foreign presence in Afghanistan, he suggested.
The president’s address was broadcast live on RTA, the state television network. Mr. Karzai often adopts dramatically different messages for domestic audiences, and takes a much harsher stance toward the coalition with his own people than he does in private and international meetings. Nonetheless, such an approach challenges the coalition’s counter-insurgency approach, which emphasizes improving relations with ordinary Afghans.
In an emotional speech in the eastern city of Asadabad in March, Mr. Karzai called for NATO and the United States to stop military operations in Afghanistan — although officials later issued a clarification, saying he was referring only to operations that caused civilian casualties. And in late May, at a news conference, he threatened to denounce NATO as occupiers if they did not stop air attacks that brought civilian casualties. That was in response to an air strike in Helmand Province that targeted Taliban insurgents but killed 14 civilians, mostly women and children.
The outgoing NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, apologized to President Karzai at a subsequent meeting of his national security council, on June 5, according to Waheed Omer, the president’s spokesman. “General Petraeus did apologize and he also explained to all of us what had happened and the president was satisfied,” Mr. Omer said.
The timing of the president’s comments was puzzling, coming on the day when a delegation from the United States was due to arrive in Kabul to discuss a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan, which both countries seek. The agreement would provide for long-term American financial and military involvement in the country.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had no immediate comment on President Karzai’s latest remarks. In the past, Western diplomats have refrained from responding to President Karzai’s attacks, saying they see them as intended for a domestic audience and not indicative of his true views.
On at least two occasions, most recently in April, he has threatened at closed-door meetings of Parliament to join the Taliban, according to published accounts.
At Saturday’s meeting, he denied reports, some of them attributed to the president himself as well as to top aides, that his government is negotiating with the Taliban. “From the government side we don’t have any negotiations with them, but the important part is negotiations with the Pakistanis, which are very important for us.”
He said the Taliban would be welcomed into the government if they accepted the Afghan constitution and stopped fighting the government. “The negotiations have started with those people, and God willing these talks will continue. But foreign military forces and especially America are continuing this process,” he said.
Mr. Karzai is a member of the Pashtun ethnic group, the country’s most numerous, as are most Taliban insurgents. His overtures to the Taliban, whom he has often described as “our brothers,” have alarmed many non-Pashtun Afghans, who collectively are a majority of the population.
Mr. Karzai “has caused deep division within Afghan society by his constant, unconditional offer of alliance to the Taliban,” said Amrullah Saleh, a non-Pashtun who was President Karzai’s intelligence chief for six years, in an article published by Bloomberg News Service last week.
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By ROD NORDLAND and RAY RIVERA
Published: June 18, 2011
================================================
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan launched a broadside against his coalition allies on Saturday, saying the motives behind their presence were suspect and even complaining that their weaponry is polluting his country.
Mr. Karzai denied earlier reports — including from his own statements — that his government was negotiating with Taliban leaders, but he said that the Americans were doing so. American officials have never publicly acknowledged such talks, and the Taliban have denied them categorically.
In late May, American officials were reported to have met with a senior aide to the fugitive Mullah Muhammad Omar at least three times in recent months in the first direct exploratory peace talks.
“You remember a few years ago I was saying thank you to the foreigners for their help, every minute we were thanking them. Now I have stopped saying that, except when Spanta forced me to say thank you,” he said, referring in a jocular way to his national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, who was present. Mr. Karzai made the remarks as part of an address to the Afghanistan Youth International Conference, an audience of young to middle-aged adults, and in response to questions from the audience. “They’re here for their own purposes, for their own goals and they’re using our soil for that.”
The Afghan president made his remarks as a battle was fought in a busy downtown wholesale market between an unknown number of gunmen and Afghan security forces. Two Afghan police officers were killed in the afternoon skirmish fought at the Mandavi market, said Gen. Mohammad Salngi, the police chief of Kabul Province. Two would-be suicide bombers were killed before they could detonate their vests, the general said.
Afghan soldiers were brought in from nearby Kapisa Province to help in the battle at the market, one of the busiest shopping sections in the capital where businessmen come to buy wholesale foods, textiles and other goods. Soldiers were seen dragging the dead body of one of the gunmen, who appeared to be shot through the chest and the right eye. The gunman was wearing an Afghan uniform.
In his remarks, Mr. Karzai complained of the environmental damage from coalition weapons.
“Every time when their planes fly it makes smoke, when they drop bombs they have chemical materials in them, our people get killed but also our environment is damaged,” Mr. Karzai said. Some weapons used by the foreign forces have nuclear components, he said, and that issue was under investigation. He apparently was referring to certain types of ammunition and armor that use uranium or other radioactive materials, although he gave no specifics.
“There are 140 countries here in our country, they’re using different explosive materials, chemical materials and all these things. We will talk to them and ask them about all these things because this has a negative impact on our environment, our animals, our people, so we will ask them about this. They should not think we are uneducated and do not know anything.”
There are actually 48 NATO and allied countries with forces in Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai also complained about the damage done by NATO trucks to Afghan roads, many of which have been improved with NATO aid. “They have not built the roads for us but for themselves, with their big trucks, with big heavy tires and chains, so as much as they help our country, they get it back more than a hundred times.” The heavy pollution of Kabul, too, was a consequence of the foreign presence in Afghanistan, he suggested.
The president’s address was broadcast live on RTA, the state television network. Mr. Karzai often adopts dramatically different messages for domestic audiences, and takes a much harsher stance toward the coalition with his own people than he does in private and international meetings. Nonetheless, such an approach challenges the coalition’s counter-insurgency approach, which emphasizes improving relations with ordinary Afghans.
In an emotional speech in the eastern city of Asadabad in March, Mr. Karzai called for NATO and the United States to stop military operations in Afghanistan — although officials later issued a clarification, saying he was referring only to operations that caused civilian casualties. And in late May, at a news conference, he threatened to denounce NATO as occupiers if they did not stop air attacks that brought civilian casualties. That was in response to an air strike in Helmand Province that targeted Taliban insurgents but killed 14 civilians, mostly women and children.
The outgoing NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, apologized to President Karzai at a subsequent meeting of his national security council, on June 5, according to Waheed Omer, the president’s spokesman. “General Petraeus did apologize and he also explained to all of us what had happened and the president was satisfied,” Mr. Omer said.
The timing of the president’s comments was puzzling, coming on the day when a delegation from the United States was due to arrive in Kabul to discuss a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan, which both countries seek. The agreement would provide for long-term American financial and military involvement in the country.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force had no immediate comment on President Karzai’s latest remarks. In the past, Western diplomats have refrained from responding to President Karzai’s attacks, saying they see them as intended for a domestic audience and not indicative of his true views.
On at least two occasions, most recently in April, he has threatened at closed-door meetings of Parliament to join the Taliban, according to published accounts.
At Saturday’s meeting, he denied reports, some of them attributed to the president himself as well as to top aides, that his government is negotiating with the Taliban. “From the government side we don’t have any negotiations with them, but the important part is negotiations with the Pakistanis, which are very important for us.”
He said the Taliban would be welcomed into the government if they accepted the Afghan constitution and stopped fighting the government. “The negotiations have started with those people, and God willing these talks will continue. But foreign military forces and especially America are continuing this process,” he said.
Mr. Karzai is a member of the Pashtun ethnic group, the country’s most numerous, as are most Taliban insurgents. His overtures to the Taliban, whom he has often described as “our brothers,” have alarmed many non-Pashtun Afghans, who collectively are a majority of the population.
Mr. Karzai “has caused deep division within Afghan society by his constant, unconditional offer of alliance to the Taliban,” said Amrullah Saleh, a non-Pashtun who was President Karzai’s intelligence chief for six years, in an article published by Bloomberg News Service last week.
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