Karzai blames Britain for return of Taliban

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai speaks during a working session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
(Michel Euler/AP Photo)


http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/01/25/karzai-britain.html

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused British troops of making the security situation worse in parts of southern Afghanistan, saying the area "suffered" after their arrival.

Speaking to a group of journalists at the Davos Economic Forum on Thursday, Karzai said he shouldn't have listened to British and U.S. officials who said he should remove the local security forces that were already in place in Helmand province, The Times reported.

Britain has about 7,700 military personnel in the area, most of them fighting a resurgent Taliban in the country's south.

"There was one part of the country where we suffered after the arrival of the British forces," Karzai said. "Before that we were fully in charge of Helmand. When our governor was there, we were fully in charge."

"They came and said, 'Your governor is no good'. I said 'All right, do we have a replacement for this governor; do you have enough forces?'. Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them."

"And when they came in, the Taliban came."

When asked if he blamed Britain for the return of the Taliban, Karzai said: "I just described the situation of mistakes we made. The mistake was that we removed a local arrangement without having a replacement."

"We removed the police force. That was not good. The security forces were not in sufficient numbers or information about the province. That is why the Taliban came in. It took us a year and a half to take back Musa Qala. This was not failure but a mistake," Karzai said.

But Britain's Foreign Office rejected the claim, saying its policy was to work in consultation with Karzai's government

"Our strategy in Helmand has been to work with the Afghan government to extend their authority throughout the province, creating a secure environment which allows political and economic development," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry practice.

"Our armed forces have suffered losses and shown great determination and bravery to achieve that objective," the spokesman said.

Last week, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates sparked criticism after he suggested in a newspaper interview that NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency, and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country.
 

dancing-loon

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Oct 8, 2007
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Praxius wrote in part:
"They came and said, 'Your governor is no good'. I said 'All right, do we have a replacement for this governor; do you have enough forces?'. Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them."

"And when they came in, the Taliban came."
I wonder ???... could it be that the Taliban came, because of the British troops, a FOREIGN troop?
We all know that the invaders are not wanted, not by the Afghan people and surely not by the Taliban.
So, is there any conclusion to be drawn... not necessarily along the line of my thinking?
 

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Karzai speaks rubbish. The British have lost hundreds of soldiers in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban alongside the Americans, Canadians and Dutch.

The people who Karzai should be blaming are the Germans and French who, to the anger of NATO, refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan, meaning that the British had to send more.

The German soldiers in Afghanistan are useless. They do nothing but stay in their base all day, drinking beer and playing table football. German soldiers aren't even allowed out at night because "it's too dangerous." What kind of army refuses to allow troops out at night?
 

dancing-loon

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Oct 8, 2007
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Hallo, Blackleaf;
don't get upset about German soldiers, because they are not allowed to fight! It is a wonder actually, that Germany even has soldiers! I think it still has to do with the 2. WW, the allies are still concerned and worried... Germany must never again have a fighting army... or something like that.
We should ask that German guy.... data. He would know better than what I can tell you. I haven't seen him around today... hopefully he hasn't quit again right away.
Let's wait and see.
 

Praxius

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Dec 18, 2007
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Karzai speaks rubbish. The British have lost hundreds of soldiers in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban alongside the Americans, Canadians and Dutch.

Exaggeration... they have only lost 84 (as of Nov 18, 2008) ~ Far from "Hundreds" as you claimed... which would be 200 or more.

The people who Karzai should be blaming are the Germans and French who, to the anger of NATO, refuse to send more troops to Afghanistan, meaning that the British had to send more.

The German soldiers in Afghanistan are useless. They do nothing but stay in their base all day, drinking beer and playing table football. German soldiers aren't even allowed out at night because "it's too dangerous." What kind of army refuses to allow troops out at night?

The Germans are in a difficult position, as anything their forces do in combat would be under a microscope to the rest of the world in comparison to the rest of the NATO forces.

If Canadian Troops kill a civilian by accident, we're expected to explain our actions and situation in detail.

If US troops kill a civilian by accident, they brush it off as justifiable in some reason or another.

But if German Troops kill a civilian by accident, everybody would jump on them as nazis who enjoyed doing it, before they even had a chance to explain the situation, therefore they stay the hell out of it.

I'd personally like to see Germany step up and get more combat, but I also know what they're up against, with two world wars being the bad guys in both.