Hamid Karzai

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GOP Senators Take Secret Afghanistan Trip

Mitch McConnell and crew return with praise for Obama's strategy

(Newser) - Mitch McConnell and a handful of other Senate Republicans took a secret trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan this weekend, announcing the trip only today—just before their return flight. The group, which included Lindsey Graham, Richard Burr, and freshmen Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey, and Kelly Ayotte, met with...

Biden to Karzai: We'll Stay Past 2014
Biden to Karzai:
We'll Stay Past 2014
Jan 12, 2011 11:53 AM CST

Biden to Karzai: We'll Stay Past 2014

But he promises US will 'not be an occupying force'

(Newser) - So much for “hell or high water.” Joe Biden met with Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan yesterday, and emerged telling reporters that the US would be willing to keep troops in the country past 2014, provided the Afghan government wanted them there. “We have moved into a new...

Biden Makes Surprise Afghanistan Visit

VP to review progress in security handover

(Newser) - The vice president has made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. Joe Biden is in the country to review progress as allied forces turn security over to Afghan hands, the AP reports. He’s set to meet with President Karzai and US commander David Petraeus, the White House says; he’ll...

Karzai Waxed Poetic About 'Golden Age' of Bush
Karzai Waxed Poetic
About 'Golden Age' of Bush
WIKILEAKS REVEAL
Dec 29, 2010 7:48 AM CST

Karzai Waxed Poetic About 'Golden Age' of Bush

US ambassador told Afghan president to worry about the present

(Newser) - The White House doesn't bring Hamid Karzai flowers anymore, and the Afghan president is caught in a diplomatic cable waxing poetically over "the golden age" of US-Afghan relations under George W Bush. The cable was sent by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry last year after a meeting with Karzai, reports the...

Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan

He'll be thanking US troops

(Newser) - President Obama slipped unannounced into Afghanistan today, one year after widening an ever deadlier war and just days before a pivotal review about the 9-year-plus conflict. Under intense security, Obama landed in darkness after a clandestine departure from the White House yesterday. He was to personally thank US troops for...

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought
WikiLeaks Reveal
Dec 3, 2010 7:28 AM CST

Afghanistan Is Even More Corrupt Than You Thought

WikiLeaks' cables paint hopeless picture

(Newser) - WikiLeaks’ State Department cable dump paints an almost comically bleak picture of Afghan corruption. How bad is it? So bad that in January, the American Embassy noted that the agriculture minister “appears to be the only minister … about whom no allegations of bribery exist,” according to the...

Afghan Government Frees Taliban Fighters for Cash

WikiLeaks cable reveals US fury over prisoner release

(Newser) - Taliban commanders no longer fear capture because Afghan security forces are freeing fighters in return for cash or political favors. The practice has become so widespread that the Taliban have a committee devoted to securing the release of prisoners, reports Reuters , citing sources familiar with a range of cases. One...

Karzai Government Slams 'Premature' Election Results

Could just be a move to influence results from a final, lingering province

(Newser) - The results are in and the government of President Hamid Karzai is none too pleased: As the United Nations stepped up to endorse Afghanistan's long-awaited parliamentary election results yesterday, Karzai's government promised to challenge the outcome. The New York Times reports that Karzai can count on about 100 of the...

Chaos Surrounds Afghan's 'Final' Election Results

For starters, votes in one province can't be counted

(Newser) - The main electoral body in Afghanistan released today what it says are the final results of September's parliamentary election, but results for an entire province were withheld because rampant violence, intimidation, and voter fraud made a fair tally impossible. As the results were announced, angry supporters of disqualified candidates staged...

Taliban Chief at Peace Talks Was Impostor

Fake leader paid handsomely for taking part in talks

(Newser) - A "Taliban leader" heavily involved in peace talks in Afghanistan was an impostor, according to US and Afghan officials. The man, who pretended to be high-ranking Taliban leader Mullah Mansour, was flown to several meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and was given a sizable sum of cash for...

NATO, US See Lengthy Stay in Afghanistan

Combat operations might end in 2004, followed by support mission

(Newser) - The NATO summit resulted in lots of talk about "transition goals" for Afghanistan, but the only thing for certain is that US and NATO troops aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The official proclamation promises that allied forces will push to end combat operations by the end of 2014—but...

US Plans 2014 End to Afghan Combat

Phased withdrawal echoes Iraq exit strategy

(Newser) - The Obama administration has worked up a plan to complete the US combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014, gradually shifting security into the hands of Afghan troops, insiders tell the New York Times . The piecemeal strategy, which echoes the phased Iraq withdrawal, will be presented at a NATO meeting in...

Karzai to US: Cut Troop Presence
 Karzai to US: 
 Cut Troop 
 Presence 
INTERVIEW
Nov 14, 2010 10:03 AM CST

Karzai to US: Cut Troop Presence

Afghan prez says war has taken vast toll on people, need to get back to normal

(Newser) - Nine years into the war in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai sees the toll it's taken on his people and says it's time for the US military to dial down its war effort. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan," he tells the...

Karzai: Iran, US Give Me Bags of Money

Afghan president confirms NYT report; says several countries donate

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s president confirmed a New York Times report that his office gets bags of cash from Iran, saying the US has long known about it—and that the US also provides “bags of money," the AP reports. The Iranian money comes in batches of some $700,000...

Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash
 Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash 
Oct 24, 2010 7:06 AM CDT

Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash

Tehran's influence in Afghanistan is growing

(Newser) - Afghanistan, never a bastion for the honest or politically uncorrupted, is taking hefty bribes from a new source: Iran. As the New York Times reports, Tehran secretly and continuously slides a key aide to Hamid Karzai literal bags of cash that amount to a multi-million-dollar "presidential slush fund" aimed...

Karzai Ban May Squash US-Led Rebuilding Effort

US official: 'We might as well go home'

(Newser) - US-backed reconstruction projects—worth upward of $1.5 billion—are grinding to a halt, as firms begin to shutter them over the Afghan government's refusal to lift its ban on the use of private security contractors, reports the Washington Post . An official called the development "catastrophic" to America's effort...

Afghan Peace Talks Not Actually Happening: Officials

Experts say reports likely part of 'information strategy'

(Newser) - Don’t believe the reports of high-level peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government: No such discussions are taking place, say US officials and Afghan experts. Such reports, the experts noted, could be intended to divide Taliban bosses, McClatchy reports. “This is a psychological operation, plain and...

NATO Escorts Taliban Elite to Afghan Peace Talks

Talks have included commanders at the highest level of insurgency

(Newser) - NATO troops have been helping top Taliban commanders get to Kabul for face-to-face peace talks with Hamid Karzai, sources tell the New York Times. In at least one case, Taliban leaders actually hopped aboard a NATO aircraft to make the journey, and in others NATO has secured roads, promising leaders...

US Backs Taliban Talks
 US Backs Taliban Talks 
Oct 15, 2010 1:00 AM CDT

US Backs Taliban Talks

Clinton: 'Stranger things have happened'

(Newser) - Western nations seem to be quickly warming to the idea of talking peace with the Taliban. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who only last month said talks would be premature, backed the idea at a NATO meeting yesterday, the AP reports. "Whenever opportunities arise that are worth exploring, I think...

Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks
 Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks 
Oct 11, 2010 3:22 AM CDT

Karzai Confirms Taliban Talks

Reps are talking 'countryman to countryman,' he says

(Newser) - It's official: Hamid Karzai is talking to the Taliban in a last-ditch bid for peace. In an interview with CNN 's Larry King set to air today, the Afghan leader says his government is engaged in "unofficial" discussion with Taliban reps. "We have been talking to the Taliban...

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