Hamid Karzai

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Afghanistan Wants Clarification About Trump's Comments

US president said he could wipe Afghanistan off the Earth if it came to that

(Newser) - President Trump's matter-of-fact statement about destroying Afghanistan isn't sitting well in that country. "I could win that war in a week, I just don't want to kill 10 million people," Trump said Monday as he met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Oval...

Karzai: Ghani a 'Traitor' for Allowing MOAB

Afghanistan's former leader wants the US out of his country after massive bombing

(Newser) - Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai is mincing no words in assessing the United States' bombing of an ISIS stronghold with its second-largest non-nuclear device, reports the New York Times : "Shame, shame," he says of current President Ashraf Ghani's admission that his government coordinated the bombing with the...

Afghanistan, US Sign Long-Awaited Security Pact

Agreement will allow some US forces to remain in Afghanistan

(Newser) - Afghanistan and the United States signed a long-awaited security pact today that will allow US forces to remain in the country past the end of the year. At a ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul, newly appointed national security adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar signed the document along with...

Afghanistan Swears in New President

Ghani Ahmadzai in, Karzai out in first post-Taliban transfer of power

(Newser) - Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was sworn in today as Afghanistan's new president, replacing Hamid Karzai in the country's first democratic transfer of power since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban. Moments after Ghani Ahmadzai took the oath, he swore in his election challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, as chief executive,...

At Last, Afghanistan Has a New President

Ashraf Ghani will step up after power-sharing deal reached

(Newser) - Afghanistan's election commission has named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of the country's presidential election, but the commission did not release final vote figures. The commission's announcement today came hours after Ghani Ahmadzai signed a power sharing agreement with opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the...

Karzai Cousin Killed: Bomber Shook His Hand, Detonated

Ashmat Khlil Karzai was also politician in his own right

(Newser) - Three years after Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half-brother was assassinated—and a weeping Karzai climbed into his grave —a suicide bomber has killed Karzai's cousin, an official says. According to a rep for Kandahar province's governor, the attacker shook hands with Ashmat Khlil Karzai near the...

Obama to Keep 9.8K Troops in Afghanistan

But next Afghan leader has to sign the BSA

(Newser) - On the heels of his surprise visit to American troops in Afghanistan , President Obama today will put the number of troops he intends to keep there at 9,800, with the intent to call most of those home by 2016. But there's a "but": Kabul, soon to be...

Obama Drops In on US Troops in Afghanistan

Surprise visit his 4th; won't meet with Karzai in clear snub

(Newser) - President Obama secretly slipped into Afghanistan under the cover of darkness today for a weekend visit with US troops serving in the closing months of America's longest war. Air Force One landed at Bagram Air Field, the main US base in Afghanistan, after an overnight flight from Washington. Obama...

Afghan VP, Ex-Warlord Dead at 57

Mohammad Qasim Fahim, former warlord, apparently died of natural causes

(Newser) - Afghan vice president Field Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a leading commander in the alliance that fought the Taliban, died today at 57. Fahim was an ethnic Tajik who was an ally of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic Northern Alliance commander who was killed in an al-Qaeda suicide bombing two days...

Karzai: al-Qaeda Is a 'Myth'
 Karzai: 
 al-Qaeda 
 Is a 'Myth' 
INTERVIEW
Mar 3, 2014 8:44 AM CST

Karzai: al-Qaeda Is a 'Myth'

Outgoing leader vents frustrations with US

(Newser) - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai says he's "done enough; it’s time for me to move on." But ahead of April's elections to replace him, Karzai is reflecting on his time as president—and his anger at the US government—in a lengthy Washington Post interview. Furious...

Obama Warns Karzai US Ready to Pull All Troops Out

If Karzai won't sign security deal, plans for a contingency force may be scrapped

(Newser) - President Obama scolded Hamid Karzai by phone today and warned him that the US is preparing to bring home all its troops at the end of the year, instead of leaving a contingency force behind, reports Politico . Karzai refuses to sign a security deal that, among other things, would grant...

Afghanistan Thumbs Nose at US, Frees 65 Detainees

US fears 65 suspected militants will return to battlefield

(Newser) - Afghanistan released 65 accused militants from a former US prison today despite protests from the American military, which says the men are Taliban fighters who will likely return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces. The release was ordered by President Hamid Karzai several weeks ago, after his...

US' New Afghanistan Plan: Forget Karzai

Military revising exit plan to give Obama room to negotiate with the next guy

(Newser) - The US military is changing its Afghan exit strategy to give President Obama a chance to negotiate a security deal with whoever succeeds Hamid Karzai, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama is increasingly frustrated with Karzai, with whom he pointedly hasn't spoken since last summer. "If he's...

Karzai Skirted West to Secretly Deal With Taliban

But officials say no peace deal with Taliban is forthcoming

(Newser) - The latest strain on the tenuous US-Afghanistan relationship: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been secretly negotiating with the Taliban. With no Western involvement, Karzai has been trying to hash out a peace agreement, which, officials say, explains a lot of his recent inexplicable and vexing actions (see: refusing to sign...

Afghanistan Exit Plans: Leave 10K Troops —or None

And, according to one report, pull out fast

(Newser) - The Pentagon has offered President Obama a stark choice: Leave 10,000 troops in Afghanistan at the end of the year, or yank them all. The military argues that dropping below that threshold will leave it unable to protect any remaining US personnel, the New York Times reports. The State...

Negotiator Sees No Hope for Afghan Deal by Deadline

Relations worsen as US accidentally kills 4-year-old child

(Newser) - The US isn't going to get the security deal it wants in Afghanistan on the timetable that it wants it in, the Obama administration's top negotiator has privately warned Washington. In a classified cable, Ambassador James Cunningham said that Hamid Karzai would likely stick to his on-again off-again...

Karzai Defies US, Frees Dozens of Detainees

Move could scuttle long-term security deal

(Newser) - Relations between the US and Afghanistan are expected to go from bad to worse thanks to Hamid Karzai's latest move. Defying American wishes, he ordered the release of 72 detainees today considered dangerous by US and coalition forces, reports the Wall Street Journal . The detainees are "accused of...

US: Sorry About Drone Strike That Killed Child

Top commander apologizes to Hamid Karzai

(Newser) - The top US commander in Afghanistan apologized to President Hamid Karzai for a drone strike that killed a child and NATO promised an investigation today as rising tensions threatened efforts to persuade the Afghan leader to sign a long-delayed security agreement. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford called Karzai late yesterday to...

US, Karzai Butt Heads Over Afghan Security Deal

Karzai wants Gitmo releases, help with Taliban talks; US threatens to walk

(Newser) - As the US and Afghanistan attempt to hammer out a troop withdrawal agreement, things are getting testier on both sides. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is telling US National Security Adviser Susan Rice that he won't sign any deal unless the US agrees to new demands. He wants Washington to...

New Deal Would Keep US in Afghanistan Until 2024

Afghan grand council of elders votes on it today

(Newser) - US and Afghan negotiators have struck a security deal that will keep US troops in Afghanistan through 2024, while keeping billions of aid dollars pumping into Kabul, John Kerry announced yesterday. Hamid Karzai today presented the deal to the Loya Jirga , Afghanistan's grand council of elders, urging them to...

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