KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 23, 2008
Karzai: Obama Promises To Fight Terror
Says President-Elect Pledged To Make Counterinsurgency A Top Priority, Would Increase Assistance To Afghanistan
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(CBS/iStockphoto)
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The phone call between Obama and Karzai on Saturday is the first reported contact between the two leaders and comes more than two weeks after the Nov. 4 U.S. election.
The United States has some 32,000 American forces in Afghanistan, a number that will be increased by thousands next year.
Fighting terrorism and the insurgency "in Afghanistan, the region and the world is a top priority," Karzai's office quoted Obama as saying during the conversation.
Afghanistan has long pressed the U.S. to tackle what it calls the bases of terrorism in Pakistan, and Obama's reported pledge will likely please Karzai, who has accused Pakistan's intelligence service of supporting the Taliban in plotting bombings and other attacks in Afghanistan - claims that Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in its war on terror, flatly denies.
Obama in the past has expressed frustration with Pakistan's efforts to go after militants in its territory. During the presidential campaign he said that, "If Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like (Osama) bin Laden if we have them in our sights."
Cross-border U.S. missile strikes as well as ground operations by U.S. forces along the border have increased significantly in recent months.
Last week U.S. troops launched a barrage of artillery at insurgents attacking their position from inside Pakistan's volatile tribal region, and since mid-August, the United States is suspected of launching at least 20 missiles from unmanned drones based in Afghanistan, killing scores of suspected extremists and angering the Pakistani government.
Over the past month, NATO and Pakistani forces have been cooperating in so-called Operation Lion Heart - a series of complementary operations that involve the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, and NATO on the Afghan side.
The top spokesman for the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, said Sunday that cooperation between Afghan, NATO and Pakistani troops is "the best it has ever been."
"You finally have those who are really conducting the operations, the soldiers who know exactly where on the other side the operations are happening, so you can have a movement which you could compare to the movement of a hammer and an anvil," Blanchette said.
In the phone call, Obama pledged to increase U.S. assistance to Afghanistan, according to a statement from Karzai's office. An aide to Karzai said the increase would include economic and military assistance.
It was not clear why it took more than two weeks for Obama to speak with Karzai. Obama spoke with at least 15 world leaders in the first three days after his election.
Obama has chided Karzai and his government in the past, saying it had "not gotten out of the bunker" and helped to organize the country or its political and security institutions.
In the latest violence, U.S. and Afghan troops killed 17 militants in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province on Saturday, the U.S. military said. A statement Sunday said that helicopters carried the troops into "a known insurgent safe haven" to attack "enemy supplies and personnel."
Elsewhere in Kandahar province, Afghan and coalition troops killed 11 militants traveling in two vehicles on Saturday, provincial police Chief Matiullah Khan said.
In neighboring Helmand province, NATO-led troops killed a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Assad, on Wednesday, a NATO statement said Sunday. Assad was linked to attacks in Helmand's Garmser district, an area of southern Afghanistan rife with insurgent activity.
The U.S. also said it killed two militants and a female civilian in Zabul province on Thursday, according to a statement Sunday. It did not provide details on how the civilian was killed.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 34 CommentsObama has chided Karzai and his government in the past, saying it had "not gotten out of the bunker" and helped to organize the country or its political and security institutions.
-Obama needs not call Karzai. The opposite way would rather be the norm. Karzai seems to be a corrupt man topping a Rightwing Nationalistic (equivalent to GOP group that looks forward to establish a kingdom and let go the simili-democracy the West/Nato tried to establish up in the Country.
Thanks, Mike. We now have something to work with, here. I only asked for one or two but appreciate the thorough input. Nearly all of that is what I would like to see as well.
O.K. Shanev137, now it''s your turn. We heard from Mike, and if you''ve been reading the entire thread, you''ve go my brief inputs, too....So...You are the one Obama listens to. Let''s assume he will take your advice. What would YOU tell him?
I haven''t been on here 24/7 like you have Mike calling a black person racist names.
Like I said, it''s pretty obvious that you have major psychological problems.
Mike, anyone who has to spend all day on posting board, referring to Obama as Uncle Tom, is obviously the sick and demented racist.
You really need to get some help.
Mike, anyone who has to spend all day on posting board, referring to Obama as Uncle Tom, is obviously the sick and demented racist.
You really need to get some help.
This is why the U.S. killed that British agent Rashid Rauf.
The British wants civilization to be destroyed and a return to the 14th century New Dark Age where only monks, priests and so-called monarchies ate well.
It''s disgusting.
What color hood are you wearing to your KKK meeting tonight?
Are you all stocked up on gasoline and crosses?
O.K, Mike. What would you like to see done, then?
I''ll start the ball rolling... I would like to see a massive reduction or complete pull out of U.S. forces from both Afganistan and Iraq and using some of that personnel to better guard our own real estate. I believe whatever terrorism we fight would be better fought on U.S. soil where we have the "home field" advantage than to try to do the same in two countries we know very little about and, up to now, haven''t taken much effort to learn.
There. That''s my stance, over simplified but there it is.
Apart from ragging on our "Tom" (may well be, but we don''t know that, right now) who hasn''t even taken office yet, you haven''t told us what you would like to see happen over there. If you had Obama''s ear and assuming he would take your advice, what would you tell him??
You''re late for your KKK meeting.....run along now.
Read what I wrote earlier today (Posted by LloydBest1 at 10:28 AM : Nov 23, 2008) and you''ll find our views ain''t that far apart.
We must clean our own house before we clean anyone elses. We must, moreover do it in a way that leaves no doubt that justice is, in fact, served.
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Posted by LloydBest1
Prosecution of the Bush/Cheney crime cartel is not a partisan thing, it is a matter of justice.
Huh?? President Obama is going to fight the US Air Force??
Posted by LloydBest1 at 02:10 PM : Nov 23, 2008
"or the old guy"
Thanks.
On that we can agree. The criminal investigation, if is to be one, needs to begin soonest. Not only can we demonstrate that we can move forward, it a constitutional imperative. Bush, Cheney and their surrogates are as much entitled to swift and impartial justice as are the rest of us.
"And the whole impeachment process, would just prove to the American people, that when it comes to partisan politics, the democrats are NO BETTER than the republicans. And that is CLEARLY not the case."
Posted by IwasHungry68 at 01:47 PM : Nov 23, 2008
I wish I was as sure. Partisan politics is never pretty or productive, even if you are the partisan. I think you are right in that the Democrats tend not to quite so extreme in their partisanship as the Grand Oil Party but they can and do show that ugly side. In my post to oldone61 I insisted that our party (at least mine, I don''t know if you or the old guy are Democrats) set a difficult-to-reach standard of integrity and decency. Avoiding the pitfalls of partisanship is a major reason why I did. It is sorely needed.
Posted by IwasHungry68 at 01:58 PM : Nov 23, 2008
I hear you.
All I''m saying is, someone throw Bush, and anyone else that needs to be, in jail,..............or stop talking about it;....it''s gotten way past old by now.
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