REPORT: KARZAI THREATENING TO HALT NATO OFFENSIVE

TIME OF LONDON:

The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has cast doubt over Nato’s planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, as more than 10,000 American troops pour in for the fight.

Karzai threatened to delay or even cancel the operation — one of the biggest of the nine-year war — after being confronted in Kandahar by elders who said it would bring strife, not security, to his home province.

FOCUS:

The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has cast doubt over Nato’s planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, as more than 10,000 American troops pour in for the fight.Karzai threatened to delay or even cancel the operation — one of the biggest of the nine-year war — after being confronted in Kandahar by elders who said it would bring strife, not security, to his home province, The Sunday Times revealed.

Visiting last week to rally support for the offensive, the president was instead overwhelmed by a barrage of complaints about corruption and misrule. As he was heckled at a shura of 1,500 tribal leaders and elders, he appeared to offer them a veto over military action. “Are you happy or unhappy for the operation to be carried out?” he asked.

The elders shouted back: “We are not happy.”

“Then until the time you say you are happy, the operation will not happen,” Karzai replied.

General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander, who was sitting behind him, looked distinctly apprehensive. The remarks have compounded US anger and bewilderment with Karzai, who has already accused the United States of rigging last year’s presidential elections and even threatened to switch sides to join the Taliban.

WASHPOST:

Karzai had a frosty relationship with the Obama administration from the outset. It took a sharp turn for the worse late last year during a three-month stand-off over the Afghan presidential election. A U.N. backed watchdog threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes on grounds of fraud.

The U.S. ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, wrote in a classified cable in November, later leaked, that Karzai was "not an adequate strategic partner."

OBAMA IS BLOWING IT.

HE MAY GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MAN WHO LOST AFGHANISTAN.

WE NEED KARZAI IN AFGHANISTAN AS MUCH AS WE NEEDED STALIN IN WW2;

THEREFORE, OBAMA'S PUBLIC SPAT WITH KARZAI IS STUPID AND COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

IF OBAMA AND HIS AIDES ARE SO SMART, THEN WHY HAVE THEY BLUNDERED SO?

COULD IT BE THEY WANT AN EXCUSE TO GET OUT ASAP!? THEN... BLAME BUSH!

IT WOULD FIT THEIR PATTERN...