http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/03/2013311113555455539.html
Several killed in Afghan 'insider attack' |
NATO says a number of Afghan and coalition soldiers killed during incident in the flashpoint eastern Wardak province.
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2013 20:33
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| Two American soldiers and least two Afghans have been killed in the latest suspected insider attack, which soon after led to a second fatal incident. Afghan officials said the incident on Monday took place in Wardak, a flashpoint province for Taliban violence on the doorstep of Kabul, the capital. "Today one or several individuals wearing an ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) uniform turned his or their weapon at a group of Afghan ... and coalition service members and killed several on both sides," a NATO spokesman told the AFP news agency. Al Jazeera's correspondent Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said that a man wearing an Afghan police uniform opened fire with a mounted machine gun. Our correspondent said the shooting reportedly went on for 20 minutes and that the incident would be the second insider attack in Afghanistan within a week. Sediq Sediqqi, interior ministry spokesman, confirmed the location as Jalrez in Wardak and said a delegation had been sent from Kabul to investigate. The incidents comes after the end of a two-week ultimatum from Hamid Karzai for Washington to remove a US-operated elite force from the troubled province because the Afghan president said they were fuelling "insecurity and instability" there. In separate incident on Monday, Afghan officials said that US troops shot and killed two civilians as their truck was approaching a US convoy. Sediqi said that the victims in the incident were employees of a company that repairs police vehicles. US forces' spokesman Jamie Graybeal said the vehicle failed to heed instructions to stop as it came close to the convoy outside of Kabul, and that the soldiers took "appropriate measures to protect themselves". He confirmed that two individuals were killed and said an assessment was under way. A video camera caught on camera an American major as he reacted angrily on the news of the killing. Al Jazeera's Glasse said the US army officer's reaction "shows the kind of pressure and stress that US and NATO forces are under when dealing with civilians". "Civilians casualties have been a difficult point between NATO and the Afghan government," Glasse said. |
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-03-110313.html
Karzai gives Hagel a tour d'horizon
By M K Bhadrakumar
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's weekend remarks critical of the United States easily lend themselves to an interpretation that the mutual equations of the squabbling protagonists are lurching toward a dangerous flashpoint. But Karzai is a shrewd politician, and he has essentially aired his frustrations as the critical phase of the withdrawal of US troops approaches.
In a manner of speaking, he seized the rare opportunity of the visit of an American dignitary to give vent to the frustration. However, the strong likelihood is that the Barack Obama administration won't get Karzai right since much pride and prejudice is involved here, and Washington would be inclined to view them as''inflammatory remarks''.
Karzai made the serious allegation that the bombings on Saturday in Kabul and in the eastern city of Khost, which killed 17 people, were the result of collusion between the US and the Taliban to underscore the importance of continued presence of the foreign forces beyond 2014.
The general impression could be that these incidents were in the nature of a political message from the Taliban to the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel who was on his first visit to Afghanistan on Sunday after assuming office. But Karzai maintained:
Those bombs that went off in Kabul and Khost were not a show of force to America. They were in service of America. It was in the service of the 2014 slogan to warn us if they [Americans] are not here then Taliban will come. In fact those bombs, set off yesterday in the name of the Taliban, were in the service of Americans to keep foreigners longer in Afghanistan.To be sure, Hagel's rejoinder came in no time when he told the media dismissively that any such collusion ''wouldn't make a lot of sense". Reuters reported that ''Hagel appeared at pains to be respectful of Karzai'' and at his meeting with Karzai in Kabul on Sunday he spoke ''clearly and directly'' about the Afghan leader's remarks. The US commander in Afghanistan General Joseph Dunford was more direct when he said:
We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage. I'll let others judge whether that's [Karzai's remark] particularly helpful or not at the political level.Walking the killing fields
Of course, there is nothing earthshakingly new in what Karzai said. A prevailing view among Afghans - and in the region - has always been that the US has a hidden agenda not to leave Afghanistan and Central Asia after having established a military presence since 2001.
This impression has further gained ground against the backdrop of the US's manifest keenness to establish military bases in Afghanistan and twisting Karzai's arms to give a ''most-favored-nation'' treatment to the US soldiers based there with diplomatic immunity, et al.
Again the ambivalences in the US stance toward the Taliban in the most recent years only reinforced the belief among Afghans that the Americans are not being transparent about their intentions. In fact, Karzai also alleged on Sunday that the US has been holding talks with the Taliban on a ''daily basis'' in Qatar.
Unsurprisingly, Hagel took pains to dispel what Karzai said - ''I told the president that it was not true. The fact is any prospect of peace or political settlements - that has to be led by the Afghans.'' It is improbable, however, that Hagel's perfunctory denial would convince many people, especially Karzai.
The past week also witnessed a backtracking by the US military at the last minute to hand over to the Afghan government full control of the prison in the Bagram base and the hundreds of Afghan inmates who have been held there arbitrarily without trial for the past few years. The US military has laid the precondition that the Afghan government should not release the detainees from the prison without the US military's prior approval.
The US military commanders' intransigence has put Karzai in a bind. He has been showcasing the transfer of the Bagram prison as a major political achievement on the path of regaining national sovereignty from the occupation forces, an issue that has huge emotive overtones in the Afghan opinion, cutting across regions, ethnicity or religion.
Only two weeks back, Karzai ordered the US Special Forces out of Wardak province on account of their wanton killings of civilians. The US commanders have taken shelter behind the sophistry that no regular troops were involved in such killings, but then, it is an open secret that savage killers are in the employ of the Americans whose identity is difficult to establish since they inhabit a grey zone, walking the killing fields at night stealthily, wearing no uniforms, holding no identity cards.
This is a happening that is common, perhaps, to all brutal guerilla wars and, in fact, the latest disclosures make it out that in Iraq at least, the wanton killings and other unspeakable atrocities by such secret forces were a key part of the calculated strategy pursued by the then US commander General David Petraeus (before he was promoted as the head of the CIA).
True, such strategies absolve the American military of direct charges as war criminals, but they pose a direct challenge to Karzai's standing. Put differently, Afghans tend to view him as incapable of protecting their lives and honor from the predatory killings by foreigners, and in the cultural ethos of that land nothing hurts like the image of a weak ruler.
So, assembling all this together, a mountain heap of friction developed in Karzai's equations with Washington. At the root of it, however, is the US's continued insistence to be on the driving seat controlling all major issues and most minor issues, which undercuts Karzai's position.
Fox in the chicken coop
Hagel's claim that the US pitches for an ''Afghan-led, Afghan-owned'' peace dialogue does not stand up for scrutiny. The entire Afghan bazaar knows that the US operatives are in touch with the Taliban functionaries and do not necessarily keep Karzai in the loop. Worse still, Karzai - and a large section of the Afghan political and military elites - feel exasperated that the US is increasingly sub-contracting to the Pakistani military leadership the reconciliation of the Taliban. They feel bewildered that the Obama administration is employing the fox to guard the chicken coop, and they are not exactly amused.
In turn, the Taliban have felt encouraged to stick to their rejection of taking Karzai formally as their interlocutor - although that doesn't prevent them from maintaining regular contacts with him. Meanwhile, the Afghans also get the nasty feeling that the Pakistani military leadership is back to its old tricks, simply marking time, playing one interlocutor against another and all against each other, and, most important, exploiting the contradictions in the US policies so that when the crunch time comes by end-2014 and the Obama administration has run short of time, it would show its true colors.
It needs careful noting that the Taliban attack on Saturday in Kabul was directed at the Defense Ministry. Only a week earlier, there was an unprecedented attack on an Afghan army convey in the remote eastern Badakhshan province bordering the Wakhan Corridor on the border with China in which Taliban slaughtered 16 soldiers in captivity.
Anyone who knows the ethnic politics in Afghanistan would see that in political terms Taliban have chosen to take on the Tajiks, finally, who spearheaded the anti-Taliban resistance in the 1990s. There is some background to this.
The Pakistani military leadership has met with considerable success in the past year or so in creating disunity among the groups of the erstwhile Northern Alliance [NA], which fought the Taliban. The Pakistani GHQ recently hosted the virulently anti-Taliban leader Mohammed Mohaqiq (who is popular among the Hazaras of the Amu Darya region). The Pakistani military hopes to develop independent lines to the NA groups, accommodating their specific concerns and incrementally finessing their opposition to the Taliban.
This is not an entirely new strategy insofar as the military victory of the Taliban in the 1990s was also invariably supplemented by brilliant ''political work'' of Pakistani intelligence operatives among the non-Taliban Mujahideen. In the present context, the strategy aims at isolating the Tajik groups of the erstwhile Shura-e-Nazar - especially from the Panjshir and Badakhshan regions - who are robust nationalists and harbor deep resentment toward the Pakistani interference in Afghanistan over the past decades.
Now, the catch is that it is these very same Tajik forces also happen to provide the military underpinning for Karzai's power structure (although he has a substantial following among the Pashtuns also). Any outside chance of the Afghan government warding off the Taliban challenge in the coming crucial 12-18 months would largely depend on Karzai's success in holding together the coalition that supports him.
On the whole, therefore, his frustration is mounting insofar as one the one hand the US constantly belittles him and makes him look small among his own people (while also whining that he is ''ineffectual''), while on the other hand Washington fawns over the Pakistani military leadership while keeping him out of the center stage of talks with the Taliban.
Countless bleeding wounds
From Karzai's point of view, the Americans are making a self-fulfilling prophecy that his government cannot hold the country together and save it from a Taliban takeover without the open-ended protection of forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
If the Obama administration is sincere about its Afghan strategy, there are ''do's'' and ''don'ts'' that it needs to observe. No doubt, the continuance of the war in Afghanistan is untenable and the presence of the Western troops is very much the problem in that country, and the solution lies in their speedy withdrawal. Obama is doing the right thing on this score.
Second, the countdown has begun for the US and NATO to do all they can to beef up Karzai's political standing. Now that the Western troop withdrawal is under way, everything depends on Karzai's capacity to lead the show.
Obviously, there is this matter of the professional pride of the US military. The Soviets also claimed that Najibullah would wither away the moment they pulled out the Red Army in 1989. It was unthinkable that where they failed, Najibullah could succeed.
In retrospect, what brought down Najibullah's regime was the subsequent decision by Moscow to summarily roll back all assistance to him even as he was in the thick of efforts to hold his ground militarily and to advance a tricky reconciliation process with the Mujahideen.
That is to say, NATO and the US should suspend their disbelief and let Karzai get on with his job. It is not axiomatic that since Western armies failed to win the war, he will too. The Afghans have their native ways of fighting wars, and the right thing to do is to leave it to them to go about their own ways to find an end to their civil war.
At any rate, trust their ingenuity and do not look down upon them as a lower form of life. Instead, what the US and NATO could and should do is to ensure that they fulfill the commitments to support the stabilization of Afghanistan in the post-2014 period. Don't resile from the commitments made or make them conditional on the establishment of the US military bases on Washington's terms. Karzai has good enough reasons to be worried.
In short, do not do what the Soviets did by dumping Najibullah. It needs to be understood that the Afghans did not invite the US military to invade their country in 2001. And if at the end of it all, when the Chicago NATO summit in 2010 decided that this is it, the war is to be wound up, that was also a unilateralist decision.
Why the US did what it for so long for undefined - and increasingly undefinable - objectives at such enormous cost in lives and money will remain a matter for historians. The story, evidently, is yet to be told.
Meanwhile, what the Obama administration should realize at the very least at this point is that it has morally, politically and militarily forfeited the right to prescribe the way forward. All that Washington can claim rightfully is the moral obligation to help Karzai stitch up the countless bleeding wounds that the Western soldiers have inflicted.
Actually, the Obama administration has enough on its plate in the post-2014 period in rehabilitating the Afghan war veterans alone. Hagel would know that itself is one hell of a job for the US's strapped resources.
So, why do this nitpicking with Karzai? Let him circle the wagons his own way and do not butt in with unsolicited advice. At the very least, do not undercut him. No one knows the Pakistani military as well as he, like any other Pashtun, does.
By all means, do compensate the Pakistani military well so that maximum cooperation is forthcoming for the US troop withdrawal through Karachi Port. But let the compensation be in financial and material terms and not in political terms, which would only encourage the Pakistani military to place faith in the efficacy of the old strategy of gaining ''strategic depth'' in post-2014 Afghanistan.
and.....
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/10/Karzai-Hagel-press-event-off-due-to-security-fears-U-S-.html
( Security concerns not the reason for the cancelation - were they due to Karzai's latest outburst ? )
Karzai-Hagel press event off due to security fears: U.S.
AFP, Kabul -
Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday cancelled a high-profile press conference in Kabul with new U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with U.S. officials saying the event was dropped for “security concerns.”
A palace official, who declined to be named, said however that the press conference had been cancelled because of “scheduling pressure,” without giving further details.
Karzai and Hagel’s appearance together in front of the cameras was to be a key part of the Pentagon chief's first visit to Afghanistan since he was sworn in 11 days ago and as U.S.-Afghan ties focus on the withdrawal of foreign troops.
The start of Hagel’s trip on Friday was overshadowed by a suicide bombing outside the defense ministry in Kabul.
Nine people were killed in the explosion which occurred while the defense secretary was in a briefing at a nearby U.S. military base in the city.
Karzai also made a contentious speech on Sunday in which he said the U.S. was in daily talks with the Taliban and that insurgent suicide attacks enabled the U.S.-led international military force to justify its presence in Afghanistan.
“The Secretary is looking forward to meeting President Karzai,” Hagel’s spokesman said about their meeting, which was still on schedule. “The press conference was not cancelled because of the president's recent comments.”
The decision was “reached in consultation with our Afghan partners,” George Little added.
A palace official, who declined to be named, said however that the press conference had been cancelled because of “scheduling pressure,” without giving further details.
Karzai and Hagel’s appearance together in front of the cameras was to be a key part of the Pentagon chief's first visit to Afghanistan since he was sworn in 11 days ago and as U.S.-Afghan ties focus on the withdrawal of foreign troops.
The start of Hagel’s trip on Friday was overshadowed by a suicide bombing outside the defense ministry in Kabul.
Nine people were killed in the explosion which occurred while the defense secretary was in a briefing at a nearby U.S. military base in the city.
Karzai also made a contentious speech on Sunday in which he said the U.S. was in daily talks with the Taliban and that insurgent suicide attacks enabled the U.S.-led international military force to justify its presence in Afghanistan.
“The Secretary is looking forward to meeting President Karzai,” Hagel’s spokesman said about their meeting, which was still on schedule. “The press conference was not cancelled because of the president's recent comments.”
The decision was “reached in consultation with our Afghan partners,” George Little added.
U.S. officials travelling with Hagel said on condition of anonymity that the press conference had been cancelled due to security concerns.
and.......
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/10/afghan-president-us-forces-taliban
Afghan president accuses US forces of colluding with Taliban
US defence secretary cancels plans for joint conference with Hamid Karzai hours after comments, citing security reasons
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Chuck Hagel in Afghanistan: the US defence secretary had been due to give a press conference with Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace but it was cancelled. Photograph: Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo/US Department of Defence/EPA
Strained US-Afghan ties have suffered a fresh blow after newly appointed US defence secretary Chuck Hagel cancelled plans for his first joint news conference with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the second reminder of serious tensions in a brief visit to Afghanistan.
US officials cited security concerns, but the decision came just hours after the Afghan leader accused America of colluding with the Taliban to keep foreign troops on Afghan soil. Afghan officials said the presidential palace, where the men planned to meet the press, was totally safe.
"It doesn't make any sense," said one Afghan official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to discuss the sensitive issue. "It was supposed to take place at the palace, we don't see any security problems there."
US officials said the decision was taken because security concerns were raised, and only after consultations with the Afghan government.
But it was the second time in two days that US-Afghan tensions had been made public: on Saturday the planned handover of the final batch of Afghan prisoners held by US forces was also cancelled at the last minute.
Both of the planned displays of public trust and unity were called off in the wake of remarks by Karzai, although US and Afghan officials declined to comment on whether there was any connection with the subsequent halt of the transfer and cancellation of the press conference.
Earlier on Sunday Karzai had said that recent suicide bomb attacks in Kabul and Khost province, in which 17 people died, were a sign of shared Taliban and US efforts to justify a longterm foreign troop presence.
"The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they [the Taliban] are at the service of America," Karzai said in a nationally televised speech to mark International Women's Day. "They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents."
The top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan strongly denied any link with insurgents. "We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the last 12 years, to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage," General Joseph Dunford told journalists travelling with Hagel, the Associated Press reported.
Saturday's cancellation of the prisoner transfer came after Karzai told the opening of parliament that some of the men held by US forces were innocent and he would free them when they had been handed over.
US officials have said they have detained some prisoners based on classified intelligence they cannot share, but do not hold anyone without cause.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/03/2013310105646824403.html
Karzai says US and Taliban holding Doha talks |
Taliban spokesman and US official deny claim as Afghan president meets with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel in Kabul.
Last Modified: 10 Mar 2013 12:58
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Karzai made his comments during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women [EPA]
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| The Taliban and a US offical have denied claims by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, that they have resumed talks in Qatar. The Taliban formally suspended the talks one year ago, blaming "shaky, erratic and vague" US statements. "Senior leaders of the Taliban and the Americans are engaged in talks in the Gulf state on a daily basis," Karzai told a gathering to mark International Women's Day. His comments came ahead of talks on Sunday with Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, who is in Kabul for his first visit to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief. The US government has said it remained committed to political reconciliation involving talks with the Taliban but progress would require agreement between the Afghan government and the fighters. "This is simply incorrect," said a US official, who declined to be identified, when asked about Karzai's remarks. "We continue to support an Afghan-led process of political reconciliation." Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, also denied that negotiations with the US had resumed and said no progress had been made since they were suspended. "The Taliban strongly rejects Karzai's comments," he said. Hagel talks Karzai is currently negotiating a pact with Washington for the long-term presence of US forces in Afghanistan, and his remarks come just days after an agreement to transfer the US prison outside of Kabul to Afghan authority fell through. The issue of US troop levels after next year's withdrawal, when Washington will halve its 66,000 troop level, will be one of the main subjects on the agenda at the talks between Hagel and Karzai. Hagel's visit also coincides with the passing of a deadline imposed by Karzai for US special forces to leave the province of Wardak, after Karzai accused them of overseeing torture and killings in the area. US forces have denied involvement in any abuses and it was not clear if they were leaving Wardak by the deadline. The Kabul government has been pushing hard to get the Taliban to the negotiating table before most US-led NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014. Afghan officials have not held direct talks with the fighters, who were toppled in 2001 and have proven resilient after more than a decade of war with Western and Afghan forces. US diplomats have been seeking to broaden exploratory talks with the Taliban that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in Qatar. Regional power Pakistan indicated a few months ago that it would support the peace process by releasing Afghan Taliban detainees who may help promote the peace process. But there have been no tangible signs the move advanced reconciliation. Taliban accused A day after two suicide bombings killed 19 people, Karzai also accused the Taliban of trying to show Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave as planned by the end of next year. Karzai said the two attacks, one outside the Afghan Defence Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, show the Taliban is conducting attacks to help show that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after 2014. "The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: 2014," said Karzai. "They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents." Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his public speeches, a move that is often attributed to him trying to appeal to those who sympathise with the Taliban or as a way to gain leverage when he feels his international allies are ignoring his country's sovereignty. In previous speeches he has threatened to join the Taliban and called his NATO allies occupiers who want to plunder Afghanistan's resources. |
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-10-06-22-58
AFGHAN LEADER ALLEGES US, TALIBAN ARE COLLUDING
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday accused the Taliban and the U.S. of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave - an allegation the top American commander in Afghanistan rejected as "categorically false."
Karzai said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on Saturday - one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province - show the insurgent group is conducting attacks to demonstrate that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends in 2014.
"The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: 2014. They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents," he said during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women.
Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his public speeches, a tactic that is often attributed to him trying to appeal to Taliban sympathizers or to gain leverage when he feels his international allies are ignoring his country's sovereignty. In previous speeches, he has threatened to join the Taliban and called his NATO allies occupiers who want to plunder Afghanistan's resources.
U.S. and NATO forces commander Gen. Joseph Dunford said Karzai had never expressed such views to him, but said it was understandable that tensions would arise as the coalition balances the need to complete its mission and the Afghans' move to exercise more sovereignty.
"We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the last 12 years, to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage," Dunford said.
Karzai also denounced the arrest of a university student Saturday by Afghan forces his aide said were working for the CIA. It was unclear why the student was detained.
Presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi said in an interview with The Associated Press that the CIA freed the student after Karzai's staff intervened, but that Karzai wants the alleged Afghan raiders arrested. The president issued a decree on Sunday banning all international forces and the Afghans working with them from entering universities and schools without Afghan government permission.
The Karzai government's latest comments and actions come as it negotiates a pact with the U.S. for the long-term presence of American forces in Afghanistan and just days after an agreement to transfer a U.S. prison outside of Kabul to Afghan authority fell through. They also came during U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief, a trip made in part to meet with Karzai. Hours after Karzai's speech, their joint news conference was canceled by officials citing security concerns, though officials said the two men still planned to meet privately.
Karzai said in his speech that any foreign powers that want to keep troops in Afghanistan need to do so under conditions set forward by Afghanistan.
"We will tell them where we need them, and under which conditions. They must respect our laws. They must respect the national sovereignty of our country and must respect all our customs," Karzai said.
Karzai offered no proof of coordination, but said the Taliban and the United States were in "daily negotiations" in various foreign countries and noted that the United States has said that it no longer considers the insurgent group its enemy. The U.S. continues to fight against the Taliban and other militant groups, but has expressed its backing for formal peace talks with the Taliban to find a political resolution to the war.
Karzai said he did not believe the Taliban's claim that they launched Saturday's attacks to show they are still a potent force fighting the United States. "Yesterday's explosions, which the Taliban claimed, show that in reality they are saying they want the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," Karzai said.
In the incident at the Kandahar university Saturday, presidential spokesman Faizi said the raiders fired shots as they grabbed student Abdul Qayoum, and blindfolded him before taking him for interrogation at a CIA post that Taliban leader Mullah Omar once used as a home.
The CIA could not be reached for comment.
The CIA has trained an Afghan counterterrorist force several thousand strong, known as the Counterterrorism Pursuit Team, which works mostly in insurgent strongholds in southern and eastern Afghanistan. U.S. officials say they work in concert with the Afghan intelligence service, but Karzai frequently complains he lacks oversight over their operations.
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