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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010 Sunni-backed bloc agrees to role in Iraqi government BY LEILA FADEL
baghdad — The Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc returned to parlia- ment Saturday, two days after walkingoutonacritical sessionin which Iraq’s top three leaders were named. The bloc’s departure had
alarmed U.S. observers and offi- cials,whoworriedabout its impli- cations for a political deal bro- kered this week, more than eight months after inconclusive elec- tions. But Iraqiya, which won more
seats in the elections than any other bloc, attended Saturday’s afternoon session after ameeting of bloc leaders that Iraqiya law-
makers described as positive. Iraqiya representatives added that they would participate in a government led by Shiite incum- bent PrimeMinisterNouri al-Ma- liki, despite having said earlier that they could not trust their political partners and would not take part in a government. “Thursday was a misunder-
standing andmiscommunication between the blocs and leaders,” said Jaber al-Jaberi, a prominent member of Iraqiya. “We want an inclusive national government supported by all blocs, and Iraqi- yawill join the government.” The return did not include
Iraqiya’s leader, secular Shiite Ayad Allawi, who told CNN on Friday that he would “not be a
Afghan president says U.S. should reduce presence
karzai from A1 Inan hour-long interviewwith
Post reporters and editors in his office in Kabul, Karzai saidhewas speaking out not to criticize the United States but in the belief that candor could improve what he called a “grudging” relation- ship between the countries. He described his own deep skepti- cism with American policy in Af- ghanistan—from last year’s pres- idential election, which he said was manipulated byU.S. officials, to hisconviction that government corruption has been caused by billions of American dollars fun- neled to unaccountable contrac- tors. And he said Afghans have lost patience with the presence of American soldiers in their homes and armored vehicles on their roads.
Karzai has long been publicly
critical of civilian casualties at the hands of U.S. and NATO troops and has repeatedly called for cur- tailing night raids into Afghan homes. Under Petraeus and his predecessor, such raids by U.S. Special Operations troops have increased sharply, to about 200 a month, or six times the number being carried out 18 months ago, said a senior NATO military offi- cial, who requested anonymity so that he could speak candidly about the situation. These opera- tions capture or kill their target 50 to 60 percent of the time, the official said. To American commanders, the
nighttime strike missions are a crucialweaponto captureTaliban commanders,disruptbomb-mak- ing networks and weaken the 30,000-man insurgency in Af- ghanistan. In the past three months, U.S. Special Operations troops have killed or captured 368 insurgent leaders. On each mission, Afghan commandos ac- company U.S. troops and Afghan officers work with the Special Operations command at Bagram Airfield to choose targets, mili- tary officials said. “We understand President
Karzai’s concerns, but we would not be as far along as we are pressuring the network had it not been for these very precision op- erations we do at night,” the NATO military official said. “I don’t see any near-term alterna- tive to this kind of operation.” But Karzai was emphatic that
U.S. troops must cease such oper- ations, which he said violate the sanctity of Afghan homes and incite more people to join the insurgency. A senior Afghan offi- cial said that Karzai has repeated- ly criticized the raids in meetings with Petraeus and that he is seek- ing veto power over the opera- tions. The Afghan government does not have the type of legal arrangement that the Iraqi gov- ernment has with U.S. forces to approve particular military oper- ations. “The raids are a problem al-
ways. They were a problem then, they are a problem now. They havetogoaway,” Karzai said. “The Afghan people don’t like these raids, if there is any raid it has to be done by the Afghan govern- ment within the Afghan laws. This isacontinuingdisagreement between us.” Karzai, who said during his
inaugural speech last year that he would like to have full Afghan security control by 2014, said that the U.S. military “should and could” draw down its forces next year. He acknowledged that an abrupt withdrawal would be dan- gerous but said that American soldiers should confine them- selves more to their bases and limit themselves to necessary op- erations along the Pakistani bor- der. He said he wanted the U.S. government to apply more pres- sure on Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan while focusing on devel- opment projects and civilian as- sistance in Afghanistan. Although he did not say how
manyU.S. troops he would prefer inAfghanistan,Karzaisaidthatat current levels“youcannotsustain that.” There are about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. “It’s not desirable for the Af-
ghan people either to have 100,000 or more foreign troops going around the country end- lessly,” he said. “We’d like to have a long-term
relationship with America, a sub- stantial relationship with Ameri- ca, that’s what the Afghan people want. But we’d like the Afghan countryside — villages, homes, towns — not to be so over- whelmed with the military pres- ence. Life has to be seen [as]more normal,” he added. Insurgents have stepped up
their attacks this year to record levels. In the past two days, a car
part of this theater,” adding: “I am thinking of forming a council for opposition from inside parlia- ment to start building the issues that we think are right for this country and to use all possible peaceful means to achieve the objectives.” Allawi called the power-shar-
ing agreement, which included appointing himhead of a theoret- ical strategic council with unde- fined powers, “a joke.” His bloc walked out of Thursday’s session after lawmakers rejected its re- quest to vote on specific elements of the agreement . “They don’t have the intention
to reallywork on a power-sharing formula,” Allawi told CNN. “We don’t want to be puppets for a
government that does not respect thewill of the people.” The political deal is described
asapower-sharingagreementbut in practice is expected to do little to temperMaliki’s power, an out- come that both Iraqiya and Iraq’s Kurdish alliance had sought. Al- lawi is supposedtoleadanational council on strategic policies, a yet-to-be-formed executive body that would have 20 members, in- cluding Maliki and Iraq’s presi- dent, Jalal Talabani, who was re- appointed Thursday. But Allawi would need 80 percent consensus from the council to make a deci- sion, an almost impossible task among political factions in Iraq. Allawi left for London on Sat- urday, and itwasunclearwhether
he would take the position, given his comments Friday. Unity has been Iraqiya’s biggest challenge, with the group agreeing to the deal with Maliki and the Kurds only after concerns that it would splinter if it didn’t. Osama al-Nujaifi, an Iraqiya
member, was named speaker of parliament, and the bloc will probablybegivenafewkeyminis- tries in Maliki’s administration. The deal also touched on national reconciliation and curbing a con- troversial law that prohibits for- mer members of Saddam Hus- sein’s outlawed Baath Party from holding government or security jobs. The top U.S. military com- mander in Iraq, Gen. Lloyd J.
Austin III, said Saturday that it was hard to predict how the past week’s political developments would affect security. “We knew that as we ap-
proached government formation we’d see an increase in activity,” he said, referring to a spate of attacks last week, including the siege of a Catholic church, that leftmore than 118 people dead. Austincalledthepoliticalprog-
ress positive but noted that the Sunni extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq “always had an impressive ability to regenerate.” “We’re still at the early stages,”
he said, adding, “We can expect some turbulence from now until the government is formed.”
fadell@washpost.com
OMAR SOBHANI/REUTERS Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai, shown on a recent visit to Paktika province, says Afghans are weary of the extensiveU.S. troop operations.
bomb exploded in Kabul and fighters attacked a NATO obser- vation post at the Jalalabad air- port in eastern Afghanistan. Sat- urday’s early morning airport as- sault sparked a lengthy gun battle that left six insurgents dead, in- cluding two wearing explosive vests. As the American military cam-
paign has moved into high gear, U.S. officials have grown increas- ingly concerned with the failure of the Afghan government to root out corruption and provide ser- vices to the people. Karzaideflect- ed this criticism by arguing that muchof his government’s corrup- tion problem comes from the American money that is pumped into the country outside the con- trol of Afghan ministries and frit- tered away on private security firms that undermine the author- ity of Afghan security forces. During the Soviet occupation, he said, ministers lived in modest housing blocks and the foreign money flowed through the Af- ghan government. “How come we are now so
luxury-orientedtoday?”heasked. “The transparency of contracts is not there.Why is theU.S. govern- ment giving contracts to the sons and relatives of officials of the Afghan government?We don’t do those contracts. I don’t have an authority over a penny of those contracts. . . . and we’ve been pro- testing against this for years.” On the issue of negotiations with the Taliban, Karzai said that
Excerpts from the interview
These are some highlights of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s recent interview with The Washington Post. Extended excerpts are at
washingtonpost.com/world.
I think 10 years is a long time to continue to have military operations. The time has come to reduce military operations. The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan . . . to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life. . . . Make it more civilian. The Afghans remember with very fond memories, with a lot of love and affection, all the roads and dams that you built in 1950s and ’60s. That can be replicated, that can be repeated.
We’d like to have a long-term relationship with America, a substantial relationship with America, that’s what the Afghan people want. But we’d like the Afghan countryside, villages, homes, towns, not to be so overwhelmed with the military presence. Life has to be seen more normal.
The raiding homes at night. Terrible. Terrible. A serious cause of the Afghan people’s disenchantment with NATO and with the Afghan government. Bursting into homes at night, arresting Afghans, this isn’t the business of any foreign troops. Afghans have to do that, and one of the important elements of transition that we’re working on is to end [these] raids of Afghan homes and arrest of Afghans by foreign forces in Afghanistan and civilian casualties. . . . The raids are a problem always. They were a problem then, they are a problem now. They have to go away.
It’s soothing. It’s a lot better. Last year and the year before that, 2007 and 8 and 9, were the highest of tension times. It’s a lot better today, with Gen. McChrystal it improved considerably, with Gen. Petraeus it improved considerably, there is a healthy debate between us at least, now I can talk to you openly aboutmy feelings, aboutmy sensitivities, about the sensitivities of the Afghan people, and I do the same thing daily with Gen. Petraeus and with President Obama. So we are in a more mature relationship.
he met with Taliban leaders in “oneor two”meetingsaboutthree months ago, but that the talks were in a nascent stage and amounted to little more than “the exchange of desires for peace.” He would not name the insur-
gents he has met but described them as “very high” level and said that he believed thatTaliban lead- er Mohammad Omar has been informed of the discussions. “They feel the same way as we
dohere.That toomany people are suffering fornoreason.Theirown families are suffering,” he said, and it is this “national suffering they’d like to address with us.” Karzai said he was grateful to
the American people for their support, particularly the flood of taxpayer money for new schools, roads, clinics and other develop- ment projects. But he questioned the Obama administration’s mo- tives. Karzai said he has become accustomed to the barrage of crit- icism against him and his family —allegations including graft and drug trafficking. The U.S. ambas- sador to Afghanistan, Karl Eiken- berry, wrote in a cable last year that Karzai was not an adequate strategic partner and warned against sending troops to bolster such a troubled government. “If a partner means a silent
spectator of events conducted by Washington, if that kind of part- ner you seek, well, I’m not that partner,” Karzai said. “Nor will be the Afghan people.”
partlowj@washpost.com
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