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Complaints in hand, Karzai heads to U.S.
5 killed in Kandahar
KABUL, Afghanistan — Two Taliban suicide bombers on Sunday attacked a community meeting in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, killing at least five people and injuring 15, local authorities said.
The attack happened about 11 a.m. at a government compound in the district of Spin Boldak, said Ahmad Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor.
A district council member and four local residents were among those killed, he said.
The district, which borders Pakistan, is considered an important smuggling route for drugs, weapons and militants.
— Los Angeles Times
Daily Photo Galleries
By The Washington Post
Published: Sunday, January 6, 2013, 9:40 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan — When Afghan President Hamid Karzai visits Washington this week, he'll bring with him a list of complaints he has enumerated for months in public speeches — accusations that the United States has fomented corruption in Afghanistan and continues to violate the country's sovereignty.
Karzai's top advisers say he has been forced to go public because meetings with U.S. officials here have yielded no progress on the issues he values most. Now he'll share the list of grievances with a U.S. president in the midst of disentangling the military from its longest war.
The prospect of a diminished U.S. presence in Afghanistan has not dulled the tone of Karzai's critique, even though he claims to want a long-term American security footprint here. That footprint would be welcomed, his advisers say, but only if it is accompanied by concessions on a number of seemingly intractable issues.
“The world needs us more than we need them,” said Abdul Karim Khurram, Karzai's chief of staff.
Karzai wants U.S. officials to stop approving contracts “with warlords who use the money for their own gains,” according to his spokesman, Aimal Faizi.
Karzai said in a speech last month that corruption is “imposed on us, and it is meant to weaken our system” — an assertion roundly rejected by U.S. officials in Afghanistan.
Karzai wants a full handover of the Parwan military prison, which U.S. officials approved last year but later rescinded, saying it appeared that Afghan officials were planning to release a slew of suspected terrorists.
He also wants a stronger Afghan air force, an end to U.S. military operations in villages and a guarantee that his country will be protected from cross-border incursions, particularly by Pakistan-based insurgents.
As Karzai presses those demands, he and his advisers have extended their critique to the larger legacy of the United States and NATO in Afghanistan, which they say have failed to deliver security, despite the billions of dollars spent.
“The war has been fought in a very incorrect manner. ... It didn't improve the situation, but it worsened it,” Khurram said.
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