Hagel meets Karzai after security threat
2013-03-11 18:02
Kabul - Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel encountered
political tension with the Afghan president and a series of security problems
during his first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, but he met privately
with President Hamid Karzai and says they discussed the key issues.
Hagel says he understands that Karzai faces political
pressures as the war winds down.
"I think he understands where we are and where we've
been, and hopefully where we're going together," Hagel told reporters, but
he declined to detail their talks.
Hagel is disputing Karzai's accusations that the US and
the Taliban are working in concert to show that violence in the country will
worsen if most coalition troops leave.
The top US commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph
Dunford, also rejected the charges Karzai made on Sunday as "categorically
false”.
But the accusations were just the latest in a series of
disputes that have frayed relations between the two nations, as the US works to
wrap up the war and turn the country's security over to the Afghans.
Speaking to journalists soon after Karzai made the
comments, Dunford said the Afghan leader has never expressed such views to him,
but said it was understandable that tensions would arise as the coalition
balances the need to complete its mission with the Afghans' move to exercise
more sovereignty.
"We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we
have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help
the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that
violence or instability would be to our advantage," said Dunford.
Dunford's comments came soon after US officials cancelled
a news conference with Hagel and Karzai because of a security threat - just a
day after a suicide bomber on a bicycle struck outside the Afghan defence ministry,
killing nine Afghan civilians and wounding 14 others.
Hagel heard the explosion from the safe location where he
was meeting with Afghan officials, but was never in danger.
The security problems compounded a series of flare-ups in
recent weeks, including a dispute that has stalled the transfer of a US prison
to Afghan authority as well as Karzai's order to expel US special operations
forces out of Wardak province, which lies just outside the capital, because of
allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive
behaviour.
A beneficial relationship
Hagel said he's known Karzai since soon after the US
invasion in late 2001, adding that such extended relationships can often be beneficial,
especially when dealing with complicated issues.
The US and Afghan leaders are in the midst of
negotiations over the long-term presence of American forces in Afghanistan
beyond the end of 2014, when all combat troops are scheduled to leave.
US officials would not provide details on the security
concerns that led to cancelling the news conference.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't
authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
But Pentagon press secretary George Little said the
cancellation was not due to Karzai's earlier comments about the US and the
Taliban.
During a nationally televised speech, Karzai said two
suicide bombings, which killed 19 people on Saturday - the one outside the
Afghan defence ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost
province - show the insurgent group is conducting attacks to help show that
international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current
combat mission ends in 2014.
"The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed
that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase:
2014. They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are
not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents," he said during
the speech about the state of Afghan women.
Disputes between leaders
Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his
public speeches. And Dunford on Sunday said that some of the recent disputes
between the US-led coalition and Afghan leaders "strike at the heart of
sovereignty" and could be more political in nature.
He said Karzai may be doing what he needs to do to
communicate with the Afghan people and their political leaders outside the
government.
That argument also resonated with Hagel, a former
Republican senator from Nebraska.
"I was once a politician so I can understand the
kind of pressures that especially leaders of countries are always under,"
Hagel said.
"I would hope that, again, we can move forward, and
I have confidence we will, and deal with these issues."
Dunford rejected the suggestion that the recent friction
reflects erosion in the US relationship with Afghanistan.
"We do not have a broken relationship, we do not
have a lack of trust," said Dunford, adding that none of the political
dust-ups have bled over into his dealings with his Afghan security force
counterparts.
He said efforts to train and advise the Afghan security
forces have continued and that plans for them to be in the lead for security
across the country later this summer are on track.
- AP
