| Ander Nieuws week 8 / nieuwe oorlog 2007 |
The Sunday Times
February 11, 2007
By Christina Lamb, Kabul
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, will meet Tony Blair in London this week in an attempt to repair relations with Britain which one diplomat described as "in total tatters".
The row has meant British officials have been unable to get meetings in the president's office even though the UK is Afghanistan's second biggest aid donor, spending £250m a year, as well as having 5,500 troops engaged in heavy fighting in the south.
Some of Karzai's closest advisers have accused Britain of conspiring with Pakistan to hand over southern Afghanistan. The deputy head of mission at the British embassy was in such a heated argument with the president that it was feared he would be expelled. Karzai's chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, was forced to resign after his attempts to defend Britain led to accusations that he was a British spy.
The row centres on the continued violence in Helmand province, where British troops are based, and London's refusal to acknowledge publicly Pakistan's role in supporting the Taliban. Karzai accuses Britain of "compromising" with Islamabad because of its need for cooperation from Pakistan's security services to infiltrate terrorist groups involving British Muslims.
"I understand that Britain has a long friendship with Pakistan and that its relationship with Pakistan is different from that of other countries because of its domestic concerns," Karzai told The Sunday Times. "But that compromise will not bring an end to terrorism in Britain.
"It's from this part of the world [Pakistan] that training takes place, and inspiration and motivation. So for British security, simply foiling incidents in London is not the only way," he added.
"The important thing is to find the source of it. Otherwise you'll continue to suffer as you have with the London bombs. By ignoring what is happening in Pakistan, you can never defeat terrorism."
One of his national security advisers accused Britain of turning a blind eye to Pakistani infiltration of southern Afghanistan as revenge for its defeats in the first and second Anglo-Afghan Wars in the 19th century.
US officials confirm that Pakistan has moved border posts at least a mile into Afghan territory.
"Quite frankly, we find all this offensive," said a British official. "Not only are we the second biggest donor here, but we have lost 42 men in the past year." The row first erupted in October over an agreement by which British troops withdrew from the key Helmand town of Musa Qala after tribal elders promised to keep out the Taliban. The truce followed months of fighting in which eight British soldiers were killed.
Karzai was furious about the deal, which was also criticised by the Americans. It came just after Pakistan agreed to withdraw its forces from town centres in the tribal area of North Waziristan where many Al-Qaeda members are believed to be hiding.
"I was very upset," Karzai said. "People suspected there was a deal being made and deal-making is what Afghans hate."
British officials counter that Karzai had forced them into what they call "the tethered goat policy" of putting troops into platoon houses in towns in northern Helmand where they were besieged. "He kept insisting our forces went into towns like Musa Qala to defend them when we did not have enough troops," said one.
There were further differences when Karzai began criticising Nato bombing, saying mistakes were being made and too many lives taken. Whitehall was then outraged in December when Karzai sacked the British-backed governor of Helmand, Engineer Mohammad Daoud.
The relationship broke down at the start of this year when the United States accused Pakistan of allowing Taliban to operate from its soil. This has left Britain isolated.
Before US General Dan McNeill took over command of Nato forces in Afghanistan from the British last Sunday, he flew to Islamabad to show President Pervez Musharraf video footage of armed men crossing the border into Afghanistan in front of Pakistani border guards.
"I very much support the American stand," said Karzai. "It always helps to speak the truth. Unless we do that we won't find a solution.
"Afghanistan suffered for many years precisely because some countries, particularly during the war against the Soviets, looked at Afghanistan through the perspective of Pakistan. Afghanistan itself didn't matter. Afghans were cannon fodder in the fight against the Soviets and when the Soviets left we were abandoned completely to the designs of our neigh-bours. We all saw the consequences of that policy - the destruction of the Twin Towers.
"We hope that Britain will look at Afghanistan as Afghanistan and not make the same mistake of looking from the perspective of other countries. If they can do that we'll be great friends." So concerned is Whitehall that it has decided to beef up the embassy in Kabul by sending one of its top ambassadors, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, currently in Saudi Arabia. The embassy will be reinforced, with 12 extra diplomats in Kabul and five in Helmand.
Karzai will meet Blair and then Prince Charles on Wednesday before flying on to Rome for a conference. "I believe Mr Blair is a good friend of Afghanistan and I will talk to him about all these issues," he said.
But referring to Britain's three wars with Afghanistan, he continued: "Britain is a very old country and has a lot of experience in this part of the world. Britain and Afghanistan have a particular history and I hope our judgments are not being blurred by that."
Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Original link
| Ander Nieuws week 8 / nieuwe oorlog 2007 |