U.S.-Afghan tensions threaten to undermine war against Taliban

[laststeamtrain]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

U.S.-Afghan tensions threaten to undermine war against Taliban
By Dion Nissenbaum, Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers 1 hr 17 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan — As Afghan President Hamid Karzai was poised to begin his second term after a fraud-scarred re-election campaign last fall, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led an American delegation to Kabul where she hailed Karzai for opening "a window of opportunity" for a new cooperative era at a critical time.

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Relations between Karzai and the Obama administration soured dramatically this week, and the tensions threaten to interfere with the U.S.-led effort to take key Afghan cities back from the Taliban , hand them over to the Afghan government and begin withdrawing American troops by July 2011 .

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After a cool meeting with Obama last weekend in Kabul , Karzai delivered a broadside on Thursday that questioned America's motives in Afghanistan . Karzai went so far as to suggest that the U.S. risks being viewed as an invader that wants a "puppet government" in Kabul .

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In an effort to smooth over the dispute, Karzai called Clinton on Friday "to clarify his statements," the State Department said. "President Karzai reaffirmed his commitment to the partnership between our two countries, and expressed his appreciation for the contributions and sacrifices of the international community," said Clinton spokesman P.J. Crowley .

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100402/wl_mcclatchy/3468127

[applegrove]

1. Isn't Karzai's brother the biggest drug dealer in Afghanistan? I'm sure the US

has been putting pressure on Karzai. This sounds like he was hitting back.