Deal gone sour

President Hamid Karzai gave a free-wheeling interview to The Washington Post. The plain-speaking has been a long time coming.
“My stand remains the same – that I cannot sign this BSA agreement with the United States without the launch of the peace process

President Hamid Karzai gave a free-wheeling interview to The Washington Post. The plain-speaking has been a long time coming.
“My stand remains the same – that I cannot sign this BSA agreement with the United States without the launch of the peace process …,” President Hamid Karzai told the US daily on March 1.
The president lambasted the US government and the military for “not behaving like a partner with us”.
Relations between the two governments have been strained over Karzai’s refusal to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement. The president said the relationship has been at a “low-point for a long time, at least since 2007,” and blamed it on “the neglectful attitude toward my complaints about it (civilian casualties).”
There is a strong feeling that the US should accept the conditions laid down by Karzai.
Ahmad Rahimi, a resident of Ghazni, thinks the president’s conditions are reasonable. “The US should not delay acceptance of the conditions,” he believes. Any further delay will bring into question claims of US loyalty to Afghanistan, he adds.
Sidiqa Hairan of Kabul thinks Afghanistan may be pushed to signing the pact. “This is a clear fact that the US is using all its tricks to meet its goal … The government of Pakistan, specifically ISI, has prepared the ground for terrorist groups to make the situation so bad for Afghanistan that the Afghan nation would have to accept American bases without any conditions,” he says.
Political expert Hashem Farahi believes differences between the allies help the cause of the government’s opponents.
There is a creeping concern about the possibility of the return of al Qaida fighters in view of the falling out between Kabul and Washington. Member of Parliament Abdul Qayum Sajadi called the return of al Qaida “a coming reality”.
Karzai was remarkably open in his interview with The Washington Post. He explained why he did not think the war was an Afghan war. “… if this is terrorism and radicalism and al-Qaeda, then we all know the origins of it. So why should Afghans suffer continuously for years in a war that we were the victims (of) the first day and that we are the victims (of) today as well?’’