U.S. Says No To Karzai's Demand For Less Military Presence

From FOX News and The Heritage Foundation:

US: No to Karazi’s Demand for Less Military


November 15, 2010 - 6:22 PM
by: Justin Fishel

WASHINGTON -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is once again causing headaches for U.S. and NATO commanders, this time demanding the U.S. reduce its military presence in the region and stop conducting night raids against the Taliban.



"The time has come to reduce military operations," Karzai said in an interview with the Washington Post over the weekend. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan ... to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life ... make it more civilian."



The comments come just as the Obama administration has publicly embraced Karzai's own idea of transferring security responsibility to Afghan forces by 2014. The plan would effectively end major U.S. combat operations in 2014 if the conditions on the ground are stable enough.



President Karzai has repeatedly expressed concern about civilian casualties caused by U.S. and NATO air strikes, as well as night raids into Afghan homes.



Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday the U.S. Military has listened to Karzai's concerns in the past and taken many steps to reduce civilian casualties. But, the Secretary seemed less willing to slow the pace of raids, which have increased significantly under the command of General David Petraeus. "The use of intelligence-driven precision operations against high value insurgents and their networks is a key component of our comprehensive civilian-military operations," Clinton said. "There is no question that they are having a significant impact on the insurgent leadership and... we believe that these operations are in the best interests of the Afghan people, the Afghan government and the ISAF troops that are working with their Afghan counterparts to secure the country."



According to U.S. officials Gen. Petraeus was frustrated by Karzai's remarks and feels they could undermine the war effort. Petraeus was not, however, on the verge of quitting as was rumored. "Comments like that from President Karzai have gotten to be not entirely unexpected," one senior official told Fox on the condition of anonymity. "Gen. Petraeus has been around for some time and he knows these are challenging issues."



An official statement from a Petraeus spokesman reads: "We support President Karzai's goal of reducing the size and role of international security forces over time."