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| Afghanistan |
| Furious over drone death, Karzai mum after Taliban attack |
| 2013-12-01 |
| KABUL, Afghanistan — As so often happens in the fog of war, the attack in a village in Kandahar on Friday missed the enemy patrol that was its intended target, instead killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding two other children. President Hamid Karzai was silent about the civilian casualties, although just the day before he had responded with fury to a similar attack in Helmand province, which also killed one child and gravely wounded two women. The attack he complained about was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition and used a drone. The attack he ignored was by the Taliban and used a suicide bomber. A suicide bomber is a jihadi drone. The bomber had targeted a U.S. military patrol in the Daman district but detonated prematurely — killing only himself and the boy and wounding two U.S. soldiers, said Javed Faisal, a spokesman for the Kandahar governor. The Taliban for years have been killing far more civilians than the coalition has; the latest U.N. report on the subject said three-fourths of the 1,038 civilian fatalities between January and July this year were by the Taliban, and less than one-tenth of them by the Americans and their coalition partners. “What does this mean, when every time he says nothing about the Taliban but always is raising questions about the Americans?” Atiqullah Baryalai, a former deputy defense minister in the Karzai government, asked. “I think Karzai is sending a message to the Taliban, that he really doesn’t want a security agreement with the Americans.” Most of Karzai’s U.S. allies, for all the bruising they have taken from him in public lately, would probably not go that far. But, as one Western diplomat warned, noting how weak public support was in the United States for a continued mission in Afghanistan: “Mr. Karzai should be careful what he wishes for.” |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #6 The Burg needs a Najibullah graphic for very article about Karzai. |
| Posted by: Dopey Sinatra 2013-12-01 17:49 |
| #5 It would be a shame if Karzai's detail went to lunch about the same time he got attacked by Taliban forces. |
| Posted by: gorb 2013-12-01 17:41 |
| #4 The first US troops out of Afghanistan should be Karzai's security detail. The second should be his escape flight crew. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2013-12-01 17:10 |
| #3 Hype-o-crite... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2013-12-01 14:26 |
| #2 redouble their efforts to kill him. Hokay. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-12-01 14:01 |
| #1 The difference is that if Karzai raises a stink about a coalition attack, we will apologize, probably pay the families, and work harder to avoid similar attacks. Whereas, if he complains about a Taliban attack, they will do none of the above, plus redouble their efforts to kill him. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2013-12-01 13:25 |