Karzai: US helping Taliban to stage attacks to justify American & international presence
Well isn’t this just grand. I picked up on this little tidbit while reading an AP story on the helicopter crash that killed five US servicemen on Monday night. With Afghan President Harmid Karzai – our supposed partner – saying this kind of stuff, can we just go home now?
I did some more searching and found a post over at Politico that referred to Karzai’s comment as a gaffe. On top of that, our new secretary of defense actually defended Karzai and did not call him out on his bull s&^%? We have American service members and volunteers from many other countries going there to help people and their political leadership is acting this way, while our own leaders in Washington won’t stand up to them? My emphasis in bold.
This time, Karzai accused the U.S. of helping the Taliban stage bombing attacks as a way to justify the presence of American and international troops. The White House called the claim “categorically false.” Top military leaders brushed it off, saying it doesn’t reflect the real nature of U.S.-Afghan relations. …
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was in Kabul on his first trip to the battlefield since being sworn in to office last month, went so far as to defend the Afghan president after Karzai accused the U.S. of colluding with the enemy that has taken more than 2,100 American lives over more than a decade.
“I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people,” Hagel said. “I was once a politician, so I can understand the kind of pressures that especially leaders of countries are always under. I would hope, again, that we can move forward, and I have confidence that we can and will deal with these issues.”
So Hagel – as a one-time politician – understands you have to just make stuff up and lie to people? Why can’t we knock on Karzai’s door and tell him to immediately retract his statement? Why doesn’t our own president have the guts to call this for what it is? A total lie.
Other administration officials seem to agree Karzai is some sort of Joe Biden who says stuff off the cuff. You know, Harmid is just being Harmid.
“I don’t think he’s crazy,” national security analyst Peter Bergen told POLITICO. “I don’t think it was a devious, well-thought-out strategy” to make these claims. But it highlights that “he has a very difficult and complex job.” …
“It’s an unfortunate blip,” Bergen said.
And this represents the leadership we have in the United States.
Fecklessness in support of corruption.? History repeats.? Remember LBJ and Nguyen Cao Ky?
incredulous puppet!? why cant they all just get along over there?
oh, right…they have a bunch of totalitarians trying to tell everyone how to live every aspect of their life.
WAIIIT A MINUTE…..
It’s possible that the Obama campaign offshoot – Organizing for the Taliban – might be involved, but I seriously doubt it.
Karzai has lost his mind. I’m for pulling out but keeping Bagram airbase with 20,000 troops to keep an eye on things there & train their soldiers. The Afghans don’t need to have any planes. That’s what we should have done in Iraq & they’d be better off too.
Why are we squandering a hundred billion dollars to rebuild Karzai’s country when so-called sequester “cuts” get purposefully aimed at Americans- including Obama’s core constituency- recipients of entitlements?? That should show exactly how much he actually cares for the people fooled into reelecting him.
Karzai wins the Joe Biden, “Epically Stupid Remark Award.” (Made of biodegradable bovine material, it is instantly recognizable and shovel ready. Included is a set of false teeth for added bite.)
The only useful thing to say to Karzai is, “Good-bye!”
I am tired of politicians that worry about how hard their job is and how hard Karzai’s job is. ?As if our troops have it easy. Our troops have lost their lives, their limbs, ?have watched their best friends be blown away and we are supposed to feel sorry for Karzai? I was never in favor of going into Afghanistan, it is impossible to win there. Pakistan played us like a fiddle, smiling and begging for money while they hid bin Laden and the Taliban. I agree with Ricbee. It’s time to let the Afghans ?fight their own battles.
We should never have been in Afghanistan as an occupying power. We ignored the lessons of the British, the Soviets and history. Our big-nosed imperialist attitude got us sucked into another war that is impossible to win. At best, it is a situation perfect for unconventional forces. At worst, it is a quagmire for static forces. Nothing that we spend there, blood or treasure, is worth anything in the long run. Are we really more secure today? Debatable.
Karzai only proves how feckless and thankless many Afghan’s are, particularly, him. He would most likely not be in power today; realistically, he would be dead at the hands of the Taliban, if not for the US. He and many Afghans have grown rich because of the US.
So, thanks, Harmid. “Goodbye!”
One thing not mentioned is that the US military NEEDS a war both as a justification for being and to have senior officers earn combat credits for advancement.
The same rubric works for other country’s military, too.’