Word: talibans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Karzai is underscored by the rising U.S. casualty figures in Afghanistan: in the first three months of this year, 83 American servicemen were killed, nearly double last year's toll during the same period. U.S. diplomats and military commanders in Kabul fear that the gains made against the Taliban, at a heavy cost in NATO and American sacrifices, will be wasted unless Karzai changes his ways and delivers good governance to his people. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...
...Karzai is also at odds with the Obama Administration over how to pursue the planned reconciliation outreach to the insurgents. The Afghan leader insists that such efforts will only bring peace if they include negotiations with senior Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar, but right now the U.S. insists that outreach efforts must be confined to peeling off what it calls the "accidental terrorists" - those who joined the Taliban for money or as a result of tribal connections - while continuing to hunt down the pro-al-Qaeda leaders of the Afghan insurgency, which would include Mullah Omar...
...commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan; and the unnamed CIA station chief. Of those three, Karzai is said to trust only the CIA chief, who reportedly led the special-forces team that protected Karzai on his first forays into southern Afghanistan to turn the Pashtun tribes against Taliban rule. Karzai is said to be leery of Eikenberry, ever since the media leaked the contents of cables in which the ambassador frankly cataloged what he considered to be Karzai's many failings. Palace aides complain that McChrystal chooses to work around Karzai, whenever possible, dealing directly with governors...
...Pakistan is also letting the Obama Administration know that it is willing to exercise its leverage over the Afghan insurgents - but at a price, first and foremost in restoring the Pakistani influence in Kabul that was lost when the U.S. ousted the Taliban. Just before a high-level Pakistan delegation set off for Washington, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi declared, "We've done our bit ... We've delivered. [Now you] start delivering...
...Kabul, officials are suspicious of Islamabad's long-delayed help in catching the Taliban. A senior official confided to TIME that Karzai, whose relations with the U.S. ambassador and military commanders have been frosty of late, is worried that the U.S. and other NATO countries may be in such haste to end the war that they will agree to a pact with Pakistan that will put Afghanistan firmly back in Pakistan's orbit...