Afghan president urges NATO troops to withdraw

[dipsydoodle]

Source: RTE News

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has called for NATO-led forces to move out of Afghan villages and remote areas after a US soldier shot dead 16 civilians.

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Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Taliban has announced the suspension of all talks with the US.

It also said it considers peace talks with the Afghan government to be "pointless" and said the main obstacle was the "shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans".

Read more: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0315/afghanistan.html

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Afghan President Karzai tells Nato to pull back to bases.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for Nato-led forces to move out of Afghan villages and rural areas after a US soldier killed 16 civilians.

He told visiting US defence secretary that Afghan troops should take the lead for nationwide security in 2013.

Meanwhile the Taliban have suspended talks with the US over opening an office in Qatar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17379163

BBC subsequently changed that link to :

Afghanistan's Taliban suspend talks with US.

The Taliban in Afghanistan have suspended nascent talks with the US over opening an office in Qatar.

The US had been trying to set up a dialogue with the Taliban in the Gulf state for some time.

Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai has called for Nato-led forces to move out of Afghan villages and rural areas after a US soldier killed 16 civilians.

He told the visiting US defence secretary Afghan troops should take the lead for nationwide security in 2013.

[think]

1. We have 113,000 military contractors in Afghanistan too:

That's the real reason we are still there. To make money for the military industrial cronies that are making a fortune off of human suffering:

Manchin questions military officials on contractors
March 9, 2012 By Paul J. Nyden

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this week, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., questioned Army Secretary John McHugh and General Ray Odierno about the Army's increasing reliance on private military contractors.

Manchin wants military officials to cut contractors instead of reducing the number of regular troops, especially as debates about budget deficits continue.

The United States has 90,000 service members deployed in Afghanistan, Manchin said Thursday. But they are outnumbered by more than 113,000 private military contractors.

Many overseas contractors earn up to three times the amount that service members earn, Manchin said, for performing the same tasks...

~snip~

full article:
http://wvgazette.com/News/politics/201203090208

[dipsydoodle]

2. They might not be so keen on being there

if as a result of recent events, and bearing in mind that Iraq successfully dug its heels in on the subject and got away with it, they become subject to Afghanistan's own law.

[think]

4. Private military contractors should never have been given immunity from prosecution

Academi, formerly Blackwater USA, is a prime example of what goes wrong in such circumstances

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academi

[grahamhgreen]

3. +1

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Whose country is it? NATO should accede to Karzai's demands...

...and keep on withdrawing all the way to the Indian Ocean.

[TheKentuckian]

6. When your own pawn tells you to pull back, it is time to accept that the pooch is screwed.

We should be out in months rather than even a single year.