Karzai: In US vs. Pakistan, We Pick Pakistan

Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan today to discuss negotiations

(NEWSER) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan today, one day after telling the Wall Street Journal that his country has entered into three-way peace talks with the Taliban and the US. Karzai is in Pakistan to discuss the negotiations and request that country's help; Islamabad's cooperation is necessary, since Taliban fighters have reportedly been receiving support from Pakistan, the New York Times notes. The recent talks signal a breakthrough, considering the Taliban has up until now insisted it would not negotiate with Karzai's "puppet regime." More»

2012 candidate doesn't know the difference between 'all the 'stans'

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton started today’s meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai with a chuckle over Hermain Cain’s recent Uzbekistan remarks. (The presidential hopeful said that if he was asked about the president of “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan,” he would answer, “I don't know. Do you know?”) As they began their meeting in Kabul, Clinton noted that Karzai had seen the clip. Karzai said Cain must have been referring to “all the ‘stans” in Central Asia, the AP reports. “All the ‘stans places,” Clinton concurred with a laugh. More»

Troop withdrawal could lead to instability, some fear

(NEWSER) - Political leaders in Afghanistan are concerned that President Obama's decision to start withdrawing US forces could lead to a repeat of the US withdrawal in 1989, when Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was allowed to gain major influence. "We don't want to go back 20 years when [ISI was] making the decisions about Afghanistan," one mayor tells the Wall Street Journal . Adding to the concern is the fact that billions of dollars in aid cuts will likely accompany the withdrawal, Reuters reports. For his part, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared supportive of Obama's speech. More»

Pakistan would be a better long-term ally, Prime Minister Gilani argues

(NEWSER) - As the US prepares to withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan by 2014, Afghanistan's neighbors are jockeying for increased influence—most notably Pakistan, which is blatantly lobbying Hamid Karzai to ditch the US. Rather than allow a long-term American military presence in Afghanistan, Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani suggested at an April 16 meeting, Karzai should partner with Pakistan and its ally China. While Pakistan is ostensibly a US ally, current relations are poor, the Wall Street Journal notes. More»

Biggest military leak in history underscores grim realities

(NEWSER) - Wikileaks has unveiled 92,000 secret documents about the Afghan war, which, in the New York Times ' words, "illustrate in mosaic detail why ... the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001." Don't have time to scan through 92,000 documents? Here are what appear to be the top revelations:

1. The Army Delta Force runs a top-secret group of commandos called Task Force 373, charged with assassinating Taliban leaders. Some of their raids have resulted in civilian casualties; in one case, seven children were killed by a rocket.
2. The Taliban has employed heat-seeking anti-aircraft rockets, of the same kind the US gave the mujahedeen during the Soviet occupation.
3. The US covered up one attack made with one of those rockets, saying it had been downed by conventional weaponry.