Karzai threatens NATO

Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week demanded that the U.S. and NATO stop bombing civilian homes, after an aerial attack in southern Helmand province killed nine people, including women and children. “From this moment, airstrikes on the houses of people are not allowed,” Karzai said. If bombings continued, he warned, the coalition would be considered “an occupying force.” And “history shows what Afghans do with trespassers and with occupiers.” NATO apologized for the civilian deaths but refused to rule out future airstrikes.

Karzai’s threats come as officials in Washington continue to argue over the cost of the Afghan war at a time of deep deficits at home. The U.S. military will spend $113 billion on operations in Afghanistan this year, an outlay one White House staffer described as “simply not sustainable.” Civilian advisers are pressuring Obama to draw down troops, while Pentagon officials are warning that such a move would jeopardize gains made against the Taliban.

NATO’s dismissive response to President Karzai highlights the hypocrisy of this war, said Glenn Greenwald in Salon.com. “We’re in Afghanistan to bring Freedom and Democracy to the Afghan people,” and yet their “elected” leader “has no power whatsoever to tell us to stop bombing Afghan homes.” But don’t be fooled by Karzai’s criticisms of American occupation, said Amy Davidson in NewYorker.com. They’re not driven by concern for his citizens, but by a desire to distract Afghans from his own “political bankruptcy.” Karzai’s regime is unpopular, and “anti-Americanism is about the best card he has to play.”

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Karzai should be careful what he wishes for, said Howard LaFranchi in The Christian Science Monitor. As the White House tries to slash costs, it might decide to lighten Karzai’s “sense of ‘occupation’” by switching to Vice President Joe Biden’s strategy of fewer troops and more targeted strikes, which “could actually lead to more of the kinds of air operations against insurgents that the Afghan leader finds so objectionable.”