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US, Taliban conspiring to keep troops in Afghanistan: Karzai
 
March 11, 2013
 
 
US, Taliban conspiring to keep troops in Afghanistan: Karzai


KABUL  - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ratcheted up his criticism of Washington during a visit of the US defence secretary, underscoring tension between allies struggling to stabilise the country ahead of a NATO troop withdrawal.
Karzai accused the United States and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed to maintain peace in the country beyond next year, when most foreign combat forces are due to leave.
Then, his government alleged US-led forces and Afghans working with them were abusing and arresting university students and urged them to stop.
Referring to two bomb attacks on Saturday that killed 17 people, Karzai said the blasts were aimed at convincing people that the Taliban would return if US forces withdrew.
"Those bombs ... were in the service of the Americans to keep foreigners in Afghanistan longer, to keep them here," Karzai told a gathering to mark International Women's Day.
The Taliban have for years demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces and have never suggested that they wanted them to stay.
Karzai has a history of making inflammatory remarks, particularly railing against the United States with which he has an uneasy relationship.
The issue of US troop levels after most US-led NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014 will be one of the main subjects on the agenda at talks between Karzai and US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who is in Afghanistan to visit US troops.
A joint news conference that had been scheduled for them was cancelled because of security worries, a US official said.
Karzai also said the Taliban and the United States had been holding talks in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar on a ‘daily basis’, but the militant group and Washington denied they had resumed efforts on dialogue that stalled a year ago.
The US government has said it remained committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the insurgents.
"This is simply incorrect," said a US official, who declined to be identified, when asked about Karzai's remarks about the talks.
The Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, also denied that negotiations with the United States had resumed and said no progress had been made since they were suspended.
"The Taliban strongly rejects Karzai's comments," he said.
The Kabul government has been pushing hard to get the Taliban to the negotiating table before foreign troops withdraw.
Afghan officials have not held direct talks with the militants, who were toppled in 2001 and have proven resilient after more than a decade of war with Western forces.
US diplomats have been seeking to broaden exploratory talks with the Taliban that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in Qatar.
Regional power Pakistan indicated a few months ago that it would support the peace process by releasing Afghan Taliban detainees who may help promote the peace process. But there have been no tangible signs the move advanced reconciliation.
Hagel arrived on Friday for his first trip abroad as defence secretary.
His visit coincides with the passing of a deadline imposed by Karzai for US special forces to leave the province of Wardak, after Karzai accused them of overseeing torture and killings in the area.
US forces have denied involvement in any abuses and it was not clear if they were leaving Wardak by the deadline.
Karzai also denounced the seizure of a university student by armed Afghans that his spokesman says work for the CIA.
Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi told a foreign news agency Sunday that the CIA freed the student after Karzai's staff intervened. But Faizi says Karzai wants the armed Afghans arrested and will ban foreign forces from universities.
Faizi says the raiders fired shots as they grabbed the student Saturday from a Kandahar university. He says they interrogated him at a CIA post that Taliban leader Mullah Omar once used as a home.
The Afghan government said in a statement the abuse and detention of university students was a violation of sovereignty and it called on US-led forces to stop it.
The government said in a decree security forces and university authorities had to stop foreign forces going in to universities.
The CIA could not be reached for comment.
The agency has trained an Afghan counterterrorist force that US officials say works with Afghan intelligence. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

 
 
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