Officials: Karzai's call to cut U.S. role worries Petraeus

Gen. David Petraeus, the coalition commander in Afghanistan, warned Afghan officials yesterday that President Hamid Karzai's latest public criticism of U.S. strategy threatens to seriously undermine progress in the war and risks making Petraeus' own position "untenable," according to Afghan and U.S. officials.

Karzai, in an interview with The Washington Post published yesterday, said the United States must reduce the visibility and intensity of its military operations, especially night raids that fuel anti-U.S. sentiment and could embolden Taliban insurgents.

Officials Sunday said Petraeus expressed "astonishment and disappointment" with Karzai's comments. In a meeting Sunday morning with Ashraf Ghani, who leads the Afghan government's planning on transition, Petraeus made what several officials described as "hypothetical" references to an inability to continue U.S. operations in the face of Karzai's remarks.

The night raids are at the heart of Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy and are key to his hopes of being able to show significant progress when the White House reviews the situation in Afghanistan next month.

Officials discounted early reports Sunday that Petraeus had threatened to resign. But "for [Karzai] to go this way, and at that particular stage, is really undermining [Petraeus'] endeavors," one diplomat in Kabul said.

Petraeus did not attend a scheduled meeting yesterday with Karzai, officials said. Karzai's spokesman also canceled a news conference.

Karzai's remarks in the Post came as the international military coalition has stepped up pressure on insurgents at the same time that Karzai has set up a peace council in hopes of reconciling with the top echelon of the Taliban.

"The time has come to reduce military operations," Karzai told the Post. "The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan . . . to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life." He said the Taliban agree that the 9-year-old war has taken too high a toll on the people of Afghanistan.

In the past three months, more than 300 insurgent leaders have been captured or killed, more than 850 lower-level militants have been killed and at least 2,170 foot soldiers have been apprehended.

Karzai said in the interview that he was speaking not to criticize the United States but with candor to improve the relationship between the countries.

But Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said yesterday on ABC's "This Week" that the issue never arose when he and Karzai met at a recent dinner also attended by Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to the country. Graham didn't say when the meeting took place.

Meanwhile Sunday, bomb blasts and insurgent attacks killed 11 people across Afghanistan, including five NATO service members and three Afghan police, officials said. The international military coalition did not provide further details or the nationalities of the dead troops.