A dispute over the fate of about three dozen militants held by US forces in Afghanistan on Friday disrupted negotiations over a long-term security agreement to leave US troops in the country after 2014.
The United States refused to turn over the prisoners deemed especially dangerous unless President Hamid Karzai guaranteed they would not be released. Karzai declined to comply.
As tensions have risen in recent days, Karzai accused the United States of breaking an agreement on the transfers. On Tuesday, he warned that his government might move to take over the US-supervised prison at Bagram airbase where they were being held. During a visit last weekend by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Karzai accused the United States of torturing Afghan civilians and colluding with the Taliban to prolong the war.
The US commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph F Dunford Jr, ordered American troops to intensify security measures on Wednesday out of concern that Karzai’s statements were creating a greater risk of attack from rogue Afghan security forces and insurgents.
The Obama administration considers the detainee problem a short-term disagreement unrelated to the strategic negotiations on Afghanistan’s future security. But Karzai has linked the two issues, drawing a direct line between US acceptance of Afghanistan’s legal sovereignty and the US demand that Afghanistan grant legal immunity to American troops within its borders after the 2014 withdrawal.
Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Karzai, said the “lack of trust” that the United States had exhibited over the prisoners and other matters “certainly will have a negative impact on the bilateral security agreement.”
As Karzai’s rhetoric has become more inflamed, the administration largely held its tongue. US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid escalating the confrontation, said they understood that Karzai had a domestic political audience so they were giving him a chance to vent.
“His politics are, of course, different from ours,” the senior administration official said.
“For us, the premium is on force protection,” and not allowing dangerous insurgents to return to the battlefield; “for him, the premium is on Afghan sovereignty.”
In response to the Dunford troop directive, first reported by the New York Times, Karzai reportedly told Afghans gathered at the presidential palace on Thursday that his comments “were meant to help reform, not destroy the relationship.”
Although he is due to leave office next year, Karzai and his political allies face the prospect of how to survive after the withdrawal of Western combat troops and are determined to portray themselves as nationalist leaders
