Afghanistan's President Karzai Supports U.S., NATO Strategy, Clinton Says
Afghanistan’s Karzai Supports U.S., NATO Strategy,
Scott Olson/Getty Images
A U.S. Navy Corpsman patrols with an Afghanistan National Police officer in Kajaki, Afghanistan.
A U.S. Navy Corpsman patrols with an Afghanistan National Police officer in Kajaki, Afghanistan. Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is “fully in support” of U.S. and NATO strategy in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the alliance set a plan to hand over security to the Afghans by 2014.
Clinton also stressed the need for the Senate to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia in television appearances yesterday, as well as the broad support of NATO countries for President Barack Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan.
Karzai “is fully in support of the strategy, he is fully in support of the fact that it is making progress,” Clinton said in an interview that aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization two days ago embraced Karzai’s target date to hand security over to Afghan forces by the end of 2014, creating a timetable in the 10-year- old conflict.
Obama for the first time said the handover meant U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan may wrap up in 2014. The pace and timing of the withdrawal will depend on conditions on the ground, with the gradual pullout set to start in July 2011, Obama has said.
Taliban Response
The Taliban responded Nov. 20 with a vow to force the NATO coalition to abandon Afghanistan before 2014, according to the Associated Press. In an e-mailed message, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid promised continued violence.
“In the past nine years, the invaders could not establish any system of governance in Kabul and they will never be able to do so in future,” Mujahid said in the e-mail, AP reported.
The militant group’s spokesman said that until 2014, “various untoward and tragic events and battles will take place as a result of this meaningless, imposed and unwinnable war,” according to AP.
Karzai and General David Petraeus, head of NATO and U.S. forces, are “working closely together,” Clinton said. Karzai “is very sensitive” that during allied operations “we are actually getting the bad guys and not conducting actions that result in a lot of civilian casualties,” Clinton said on CBS.
In her appearances, Clinton also said ratifying the New START treaty is essential to U.S. national security interests. Support for the treaty is widespread and bipartisan within the U.S. national security community, she said.
Support for START
“Our entire military leadership, as well as six former secretaries of state, five former secretaries of defense, three former national security advisors, and seven former commanders of U.S. Strategic Command support this treaty and support it now,” Clinton said Nov. 19.
“This is beyond politics, let’s pass it by an overwhelming bipartisan vote,” Clinton said on CBS.
Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, said Nov. 16 that pressing business wouldn’t allow full consideration before year’s end of “the complex and unresolved issues related to START.”
Kyl, a frequent guest on Washington’s Sunday morning talk shows, did not appear on any of them yesterday.
Clinton cited the late Republican President Ronald Reagan’s adage “trust but verify,” on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, and added that “we have no verification without a treaty about what’s going on in Russia’s nuclear program.”
On the Ground
“We want to get our inspectors back on the ground,” Clinton said on NBC. “And the only way to do that is by ratifying this treaty.”
Obama, speaking to reporters at the close of the NATO summit two days ago, said the START arms treaty he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed in April would reduce nuclear arsenals and improve relations between the two nations.
Obama and Medvedev had a 15- to 20-minute meeting on the sidelines of the summit, accompanied only by a translator, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said.
Medvedev expressed confidence that Obama would get the treaty ratified, said another administration official, who spoke Nov. 20 on condition of anonymity.
Obama has said failure to ratify the treaty could destroy the new policy to “reset” relations between the U.S. and Russia. Russia has provided “enormous help” in instituting sanctions on Iran and in accepting transit agreements that allow the U.S. to supply troops in Afghanistan because of reset policy, Obama said.
“It would be a profound mistake for us to slip back into mistrust as a consequence of our failure to ratify,” the president said.
The new START treaty would limit each side’s strategic warheads to no more than 1,550, from 2,200 allowed previously, and sets a maximum of 800 land-, air- and sea-based launchers.
Each of the last three arms-reduction treaties was ratified with more than 90 votes in the 100-member Senate. The previous treaty expired in December.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net; Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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