Defense Secretary Robert Gates is in Kabul to fix strained relations with Afghan
President Hamid Karzai following the
accidental killing of nine Afghan boys in a NATO airstrike last week.
"This
breaks our heart," Gates said at a Monday press conference standing alongside
Karzai. "Not only is their loss a tragedy for their families, it is a setback
for our relationship with the Afghan people, whose security is our chief
concern."
"I would also like to offer
President Karzai my personal apology, because I know these tragedies weigh
heavily on his heart and create problems for him as the leader and protector of
the Afghan people," Gates said.
The United States still plans to
transition to an Afghan lead on most operations and begin drawing down troops
this summer, Gates said, as he gave a positive reading on the progress of the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) efforts to more forcefully engage the Taliban
ahead of that transition.
"The gains we are seeing across the
country are significant," he added, noting that Karzai would soon announce the
first areas that will be transferred to the control of the Afghan armed forces.
"While no decisions on numbers have
been made, in my view, we will be well-positioned to begin drawing down some
U.S. and coalition forces this July, even as we redeploy others to different
areas of the country," said Gates.
For his part, Karzai accepted Gates's
apology for the accidental civilian deaths, which was significant because he
had rejected a similar apology by Gen. David Petraeus only last week.
"Secretary Gates is an honored
friend of Afghanistan. And I trust completely when he says he's sorry and he
apologizes," Karzai said. "But while we take that apology with a lot of respect
and agree with it to accept it today, I would request Secretary Gates that he
take the plea of the Afghan people to Washington that these civilian casualties
stop, and make the utmost effort so we don't have them anymore."
Gates also said that the U.S.
government was prepared to keep some troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, the
scheduled date for the full transfer of territory to Afghan control. He said
that if the Afghan government gives its permission, the United States would be interested
in an ongoing security relationship in Afghanistan that could include keeping active
some of the bases currently in use.
"The United States, I think, is open
to the possibility of having some presence here in terms of training and
assistance, perhaps making use of facilities made available to us by the Afghan
government for those purposes," Gates said.
Also, an open microphone picked up a casual conversation between Gates and Petraeus where they joked about a possible military attack on Libya, ABC news reported.
"Welcome back, sir," Petraeus said to Gates when he arrived in Kabul.
"You returning to normal, you gonna launch some attacks on Libya or something?" Petreaus joked to Gates.
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