US General to Troops: Karzai's Threatening Us

The US commander in Afghanistan put the troops on high alert yesterday, saying they were in extra danger after the latest salvo of anti-American rhetoric from Afghan president Hamid Karzai, including one that sounded like an outright threat, the New York Times reports. In a speech Tuesday, Karzai said that if the US didn't hand over Bagram prison soon, the Afghan government would take it from them. Gen. Joseph Dunford released a command threat advisory saying those "inflammatory" remarks "could be a catalyst for some to lash out against our forces."

The advisory warned that the remarks could spark opportunistic militant attacks, and that Karzai "may also issue orders that put our forces at risk." A number of Afghan leaders have issued a statement distancing themselves from Karzai's comments, the latest in a line of anti-American rants. This weekend, Karzai suggested that the US and Taliban were colluding to keep the war going, and he recently banned US special ops troops from a key province. (More Afghanistan stories.)