Inside the Karzai visit

Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 6:48 PM Share

It's Afghanistan week in Washington, and yesterday at the State Department, dozens of officials met for a host of working-group meetings on the country and the U.S.-led war effort there throughout the day. But the real action, where the tough issues were really tackled, took place at the end of the day in a much more private session with only key people inside, sources told The Cable.

The 90-minute evening meeting was billed as a bilateral session between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but several other key officials were in the room: Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, his deputy Paul Jones, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, National Security Council Special Assistant Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, and Clinton's deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan. On the Afghan side, other than Karzai, only National Security AdvisorRangin Dadfar Spanta and Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul attended.

The format matched almost exactly the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, where a high-level private meeting also was the forum for key differences to be aired and key decisions to be made. Yesterday's meeting was the chance to discuss "all those things that both sides don't want to discuss out in the open," reported one diplomatic source who was briefed on the session.

A State Department official told The Cable that inside the "business-like" meeting, "they went into significant depth on the core issues of the visit," including reconciliation, reintegration, security, the upcoming peace jirga, and the handover of U.S.-run detention centers such as the one in Bagram.

Karzai came to Washington with several demands, including that night raids and civilian casualties be reduced and that the detention centers be handed over to Afghan control at a date certain. The Obama administration hadn't publicly announced when it would relinquish control of the Bagram prison, but then today President Obama announced it would be done by January.

The U.S. side delved deep to try to "understand what the Afghan plans were for the key events coming up including the peace jirga and Kabul conference," the State Department official said. State is looking hard to figure out when and how Karzai's government can play a larger role and take the burden off of the U.S. military and civilians in Afghanistan.

"The overall context is: How do we begin to transfer civic responsibilities to the Afghans?," said the official.

At the reception immediately following the meeting in the State Department's ornate Ben Franklin room, Clinton said the meeting was "an excellent exchange of views."

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SURESH SHETH

5:38 PM ET

May 13, 2010

Pakistan wants to be the 'kingmaker' in Afghanistan

It is doubtful that Obama can achieve much from this Karzai visit unless Obama administration reins in on Pakistani ambitions to be the ‘kingmaker’ in Afghanistan.

Pakistani government wants to turn back the clock and claim same suzerainty it had over Afghanistan when it installed Taliban government there in 1996. UN report on Bhutto killing released on 4/15/10 confirmed this fact when it noted that "The PAKISTANI MILITARY ORGANIZED AND SUPPORTED THE TALIBAN TO TAKE CONTROL OF AFGHANISTAN IN 1996“. So in a way, Pakistani government was in charge of Afghanistan when 9/11 attacks were carried out and hence Pakistani government was responsible for those attacks. With latest attempt by Faisal Shahzad to bomb New York, things haven’t changed much in Pakistan since 2001. Afterall Richard Armitage had a reason to threaten Musharraf with 'dire consequences' if Pakistan did not join US fight against terrorism in 2001.

When Karzai visited Islamabad on March 10 to find out why his interlocutor Mullah Baradar was arrested, he was, according to Afghan officials, bluntly told by Pakistan's generals that the Americans are bound to leave and that if he wanted Pakistani help resolving issues with the Taliban, he would first have to close Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad. Pakistani officials deny threatening Karzai and insist that they want a peaceful and stable Afghanistan once the Americans leave. But other sources have confirmed that such ultimatums were delivered. So Pakistani government continues to reject sovereignty of Afghan government to choose its friends no matter what Pakistani government declares publicly.

Both Mr Karzai and Baradar are Durrani Pashtuns, sharing common tribal loyalties. An infuriated Karzai now finds his reconciliation efforts with the Taliban undermined, with the Pakistanis procrastinating on his demand for the extradition of Baradar to Afghanistan. Pakistan, which for years has denied the presence of the Mullah Omar-led ‘Quetta shura’ on its soil, now brazenly demands that it should be the prime intermediary in any process of reconciliation with the Taliban.

Unless the Obama Administration stops Bush’s policy of mollycoddling Pakistan at the expense of Afghanistan, US mission in Afghanistan is headed for failure no matter how much untangling Obama does with Karzai.

SPIDER VEIN

1:05 AM ET

May 14, 2010

spider vein

Pakistani government wants to turn back the clock and claim same suzerainty it had over Afghanistan when it installed tali ban government there in 1996. Unless the Obama Administration stops Bush’s policy of mollycoddling Pakistan at the expense of Afghanistan, US mission in Afghanistan is headed for failure no matter how much untangling Obama does with Karzai. I am sure Obama achieved Inside the Karzai visit it true that Pakistan wants to be superior from all over the Afghanistan..
spider vein