Washington/ Kabul The massacre of at least 16 Afghan civilians by an American soldier has forced the Obama administration to confront yet another nightmare from the war zone and fresh evidence that patience back home is increasingly wearing thin.
A majority of Americans — 55 per cent — believe that most Afghans are opposed to what the US is trying to accomplish in that country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
About as many Americans — 54 per cent — want the US military to withdraw even before they can train the Afghan army to be self-sufficient, a pillar of Obama's war strategy.
Overall, 60 per cent of Americans believe the war has not been worth the loss in life and expenses, according to the poll.
"I think we're risking the lives of young men and women in a mission that, frankly, may not be doable," Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich said.
Among Republican candidates, that view puts Gingrich closer to the position of Republican Ron Paul, Texas, who has long called for an end to the war. The latest incident is also one more blow to President Obama's hopes for an easy exit from a 10-year-old war and deepens doubts about US plans to assign advisors to Afghan forces.
Washington had hoped for a carefully managed withdrawal starting this year, with 20,000 US troops due home by September. Obama administration officials also are seeking a long-term security agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an effort to keep the Taliban insurgency at bay after the remaining US and allied combat troops depart by the end of 2014.
In public, administration officials insisted that the mass slaying would not derail their plans or force them to reassess the withdrawal. "This tragic incident does not reflect the commitment of the US military to protect the Afghan people and help build a strong and stable Afghanistan," Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a statement. He added that he told Karzai in a telephone call on Sunday that he remains "fully committed to ensuring that our cooperation continues."
Different ground reality
But in Afghanistan, the ground reality was different. "We have benefited little from the foreign troops here but lost everything — our lives, dignity and our country to them," said Haji Najiq," a Kandahar shop owner.
"The explanation or apologies will not bring back the dead. It is better for them to leave us alone and let us live in peace." Anti-Americanism, which boiled over after copies of the Quran were burned at a Nato base last month is likely to deepen after the Kandahar carnage.
"The Americans said they will leave in 2014. They should leave now so we can live in peace," said Mohammad Fahim, 19, a university student. "Even if the Taliban return to power our elders can work things out with them. The Americans are disrespectful."
In Washington, US officials huddled in the White House and the Pentagon to cobble together plans for dealing with the repercussions of the killings. Obama and Panetta placed separate calls to Karzai to condemn the shooting and offer condolences. Notably, however, neither offered an outright apology, in contrast with the US reaction last month after American soldiers — in an apparent mistake — burned copies of the Quran and other religious texts, igniting deadly protests.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid an unexpected visit to German troops serving in Afghanistan yesterday, a day after the shooting spree.
Merkel, who visited German troops based near Mazar-E-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, also spoke by telephone with Karzai and expressed German condolences for the shootings that took place in villages in Kandahar province. Branding the killings a "terrible deed", Merkel said Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would do all it could to clarify exactly what happened, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
Commenting on the planned withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan in 2014, Merkel urged the Karzai administration to promote the political reconciliation process with insurgents, saying there had been progress but much more was needed.
"For that reason I cannot say we will manage this by 2013-2014. The will is there, we want to succeed and we will work on this," she was quoted as saying.
Asked if Merkel was signalling doubts over plans to pull out troops by the end of 2014 and hand responsibility for security entirely to Afghan forces, a German official said: "The chancellor is not calling into question the withdrawal plan."
Braced for the worst, the US embassy urged its citizens in Afghanistan to take extra precautions, warning against "a risk of anti-American feelings and protests in coming days especially in eastern and southern provinces".
"The killings in Kandahar cast a long shadow over negotiations on a strategic partnership deal and certainly give greater leverage to Karzai," Candace Rondeaux of the International Crisis Group said.
"The question of immunity for US troops remaining in the country after the end of combat operations in 2014 will come to the forefront."
Killing of 16 civilians a major blow to 'easy exit' hopes
The horrific incident of a US soldier killing 16 civilians is a major blow to the US President Barack Obama's hopes for an easy and early exit from a ten-year-old war in Afghanistan.
The action also deepens doubts about Washington's plans to assign advisers to Afghan forces after a carefully managed withdrawal starting this year — with 20,000 US troops due home by September and the rest by end of 2014.
With US presidential elections in November, the Obama administration has to go back to the drawing board to chalk out a long-term deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an effort to keep the Taliban insurgency at bay once the Nato forces leave.
But the fact remains, the Afghans would like to remember this war as one of the darkest chapters in their history and say to the foreign troops: It's time to leave.
