Karzai Given Timetable by G8 to Tackle Corruption in Afghanistan (Troops Remain Until at Least 2015)

[tekisui]

Source: Guardian

World leaders issued a stark warning yesterday to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, demanding detailed plans of how he will takeover responsibility for the country's security and drive out corruption within five years.

The message from the G8 leaders, who are gathered in Canada, will be seen as setting a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops. It will also be seen as a vindication for David Cameron, who said yesterday that he hoped British soldiers would be out of the country in the same time period.

But the message is likely to trigger controversy, as many warn that Afghanistan is far from stable. Nick Harvey, the armed forces minister, said yesterday that there would be no withdrawal before ministers were satisfied that the country would not "slip back into being a haven for international terrorism".

(snip)

The prime minister's apparent eagerness for a full withdrawal is understood to be causing consternation among policymakers in Washington and Kabul, who believe it is sending signals to the Afghan people that UK troops are preparing to go home. Semple said evidence was emerging on the ground that the country was tilting towards civil war – a situation that has dogged Afghanistan for much of its 300-year history.

Semple, a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said there were signs of a three-way jostling for power evolving between pro-Taliban Pashtun, anti-Taliban Pashtun and non-Pashtun groups. "The civil war scenario is a horrendous position. You can already see elements of that at the moment. The reality is that the Nato campaign is just about keeping a lid on it, but not forever.

"You handle the drawdown wrongly, you get basically ambushed in Afghan politics and you get this prospect of a civil war," said Semple, who as the third-highest-ranking diplomat in the country was expelled by the Afghan government in 2007 for pursuing talks with the Taliban. Last week Britain's special envoy to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, stepped down after clashing with senior Nato and US officials over his insistence that the military-driven counter-insurgency effort was failing. The veteran diplomat likened the battle in Afghanistan to "a civil war", and said that the need for peace talks with the Taliban was imperative.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/27/g8-tells-karzai-tackle-corruption

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Everyone arguing the nuance of whether a withdrawal actually begins in 2011 can rest easy. Nobody's Goin' Nowhere. 2015 is being used as the 'best-case scenario' date. The Endless War goes on....

[Andy823]

1. It's a winless war!

Every country that has tried in the past has found this out, as will we. Karzai is simply using the U.S., and all the other countries involved! He is making millions, maybe even billions from working both sides of this battle. The military troops from around the world that are fighting there are doing his dirty work, and taking out the competition for his brother who is said to be a drug lord who uses the military to take care of his rivals. The whole idea of "staying" for decades would work great for the corrupt government over there, and would help Karzai's side in the civil war, but it will only cost american and NATO soldiers their lives, and cost billions of taxpayer dollars with nothing to show for it in the end.

Of course if there really is "trillions" of dollars in minerals, gold and other metals, the big mining corporations would benefit, just like the oil companies did in Iraq. Once again it's simply a matter of doing the dirty work for big corporations using soldiers from the U.S. and around the world to die so they can make billions from "stealing" the wealth of Afghanistan!