Kabul The American campaign in Afghanistan suffered a double blow Thursday: The Taliban broke off talks with the US, and President Hamid Karzai demanded Nato troops immediately pull out of rural areas in the wake of the killing of 16 civilians.
The setbacks effectively paralyse the two main tracks for ending the 10-year-old war. Part of that exit strategy is to transfer authority gradually to Afghan forces. Another tack is to pull the Taliban into political discussions with the Afghan government, though it's unclear that there has been any progress since January.
Although Karzai has previously said that he wanted international troops to transition out of rural areas, the call for an immediate exit is new. Karzai is known for making dramatic demands then backing off under US pressure.
Contention
Even if the US refuses to comply or Karzai eventually changes his tone, the call for a pull back will likely become another issue of contention between the Afghans and their international allies at a time of growing war weariness in the US and other countries of the international coalition.
Karzai spoke as Afghan lawmakers were expressing outrage that the US flew the soldier suspected in the 16 civilian killings to Kuwait on Wednesday night when they were demanding he be tried in the country.
"Afghan security forces have the ability to keep the security in rural areas and in villages on their own," Karzai said in a statement after meeting visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta. He said he had conveyed his demand to Panetta.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai confirmed that Karzai was asking for Nato to immediately pull back from villages and rural areas to main bases.
Karzai is confident that Afghan security forces are ready to take over and know "a thousand times better than any foreign troops the culturally sensitive ways of dealing with their own people", Mosazai said.
If the Nato troops do pull back, it would leave vast areas of the country unprotected and essentially mean the end of the strategy of trying to win hearts and minds by working with and protecting the local population.
Local defence forces
The American accused of killing 16 civilians on Sunday was stationed on just such a base, where a small group of soldiers worked with villagers to try to set up local defence forces and strengthen government.
Withdrawing from rural areas would also mean pulling back US forces from the border areas with Pakistan.
The accused soldier, who has not been named, is suspected of going on a shooting rampage in villages near his base in southern Afghanistan, killing nine children and seven other civilians and then burning some of their bodies.
Karzai told Panetta that everything must be done to prevent any such incidents in the future, including speeding up timelines for Nato pullbacks.
Karzai also said he now wants Afghan forces take the lead for countrywide security in 2013 in what appeared to be a move to push the US towards an earlier drawdown.
