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| Afghanistan |
| Obama Warns Karzai of Full Troop Withdrawal |
| 2014-02-26 |
[An Nahar] President Barack ObamaIf you like your coverage you can keep it... told his Afghan counterpart Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Tuesday he is now planning a full U.S. troop withdrawal, but did not rule out agreeing a post-2014 mission with the next Kabul government. The U.S. threat was the latest twist in a long political tug-of-war with Karzai, who has infuriated Washington with his refusal to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) governing a post-2014 mission in the dying months of his mandate. "President B.O. told President Karzai that because he has demonstrated that it is unlikely that he will sign the BSA, the United States is moving forward with additional contingency planning," the statement said. "Specifically, President B.O. has asked the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014." The White House has previously warned that Karzai's intransigence on a deal painstakingly negotiated last year meant it had no choice but to consider a full withdrawal. It refuses to leave troops behind in Afghanistan after America's longest war without the legal protections granted by the BSA. Though Karzai has refused to sign the pact, which defines a post-2014 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... training and anti-terror mission, some of the candidates in April's Afghan elections have indicated they would sign it. The deal has also been endorsed by a council of tribal elders. The statement said that Obama was reserving the "possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year," should he find a willing partner in the government. It was the most concrete sign yet that Washington may be willing to wait out the Afghan electoral process before making a final decision on a future role in Afghanistan. However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... the statement warned "the longer we go without a BSA, the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any U.S. mission." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 remoteman, sort of. Leaving AG, no problem? Leaving AG strapped to the back of a painted sow while wearing clown shoes and a big red nose? I don't think that's going to prove to be a winner. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-02-26 13:58 |
| #4 Leaving Afghanistan tomorrow would be one of the few things Obama and I agree on. If he were to do it. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2014-02-26 12:18 |
| #3 "...should he find a willing partner in the government." Sounds like an invitation to me.. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-02-26 09:15 |
| #2 Only in Washington does taking the correct course of action require a warning. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-02-26 08:17 |
| #1 OTOH the Bammer repor may demand to still keep INTEL elements in the country even iff no BSA is signed. Lest we fergit, 2009-10 MSM-NET = AL QAEDA SAID THEY WON'T HESITATE TO USE PAKISTAN'S NUKES IN TERROPS, JIHAD AGZ THE USA IFF IT HAD THE CHANCE. The prob is moreso than not that any post-Obama USA will have to send US Milfors back into BOTH AFGHAN + PAK iff Militants take control of Pak's nuke arsenal - the Russians + Chinese + Indians won't even PC think about it. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2014-02-26 00:42 |