Two setbacks in U.S. Afghan campaign

KABUL -- The American campaign in Afghanistan suffered a double blow yesterday: The Taliban broke off talks with the United States, and President Hamid Karzai said NATO should pull out of rural areas and speed up the transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan forces nationwide, following the killing of 16 civilians.

The setbacks to America's strategy for ending the 10-year-old war come as support for the conflict is plummeting. Part of the U.S. 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.

Karzai has said he wanted international troops to transition out of rural areas, but the apparent call for an immediate exit is new. He also said he now wants Afghans to take the lead for countrywide security in 2013.

But a senior U.S. official said Karzai did not make any demands to have U.S. troops leave villages immediately.

A rapid pullout from rural areas would have a devastating effect on U.S. ability to challenge the Taliban on the battlefield.

Unlike the Iraq War, where most combat was in towns and cities, the Afghan conflict is a struggle to secure rural hamlets and remote mountain valleys used by the militants to move in and out of sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan. Karzai spoke as Afghan lawmakers were expressing outrage that the United States flew the soldier suspected of gunning down 16 civilians Sunday to Kuwait on Wednesday night. They were demanding that the U.S. Army staff sergeant be tried in their country.

A Seattle lawyer said yesterday he had been hired to represent the soldier. John Henry Browne said the soldier is from the region, but would not give his name. He said that the soldier saw his friend's leg blown off the day before the rampage.

Browne said his client's family provided him with details, which have not been independently verified. It isn't clear whether the incident might have helped prompt the horrific middle-of-the-night attack on civilians in two villages last Sunday.

The soldier had been injured twice during his three previous deployments to Iraq, and he was loath to go to Afghanistan to begin with, Browne said. He was screened by health officials after a head injury before he redeployed, Browne said.

Browne also disputed reports that a combination of alcohol, stress and domestic issues caused him to snap.

Also Thursday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid accused the United States of failing to follow through on its promises. He said they had agreed to discuss two issues: the establishment of the group's political office in Qatar and a prisoner exchange.

The Taliban said the Americans "turned their backs on their promises."