GUNNER
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Karzai wants India to talk to Pakistan
Indian journalist says Karzai wants US to strike 'sanctuaries of terror' in Pakistan
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sit down "individually" or "collectively" with the Pakistani leadership and have a "heart-to-heart chat" to settle issues for the sake of peace in Afghanistan.
He has also asked India to clear doubts of Islamabad so they need not run to the Americans with stories of "Indian plots".
Saeed Naqvi, a journalist, who had an hour-long discussion with the Afghan president recently, revealed this on Friday. Initiating a discussion on "Afghanistan Today and Tomorrow", Naqvi quoted Karzai as saying, "I urge New Delhi to talk to Pakistan."
He said Afghan President Hamid Karzai also felt that India was not applying pressure on the United States to attack 'sanctuaries of terror' in Pakistan. Naqvi said though his discussion with the Afghan president was off-the-record, Karzai was willing to be quoted on three issues. The US is not striking at sanctuaries of terror in Pakistan, India is not applying pressure on the US just to do that and India should talk to Pakistan to settle issues.
Naqvi quoted close aides of former head of the Afghan National Security Services, Amrullah Saleh, as saying that "earlier the US wanted to defeat Taliban. Now they want to weaken them. For his own reasons, perhaps Karzai too, does not wish to defeat them".
"The enemy is headquartered in Pakistan and he should be defeated there. For the US, the expendable part of the Taliban is in Afghanistan. Karzai asserts why should I collaborate with NATO to kill the Afghans they consider expendable?" the aide asked. "Moreover, if Pakistan can survive playing a double game, why cant I," he added.
Naqvi said though US President Barack Obama is committed to July 2011 as the date for beginning to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, the possibility of a real withdrawal was remote. The US may scale down some strength as in the case of Iraq, he said.
"If the US is actually planning departure, why is it building a consulate in the heart of Mazar-e-Sharif on a scale which would dwarf large embassies," he asked.
"The US troops have left Iraq. But 50,000 troops will remain in the various bases which are, ultimately, like country houses - open the locks and they are fully functional again," he said.
"If President Karzai is to remain in Kabul until 2014, surely he will require protection till then. If the US and NATO are to start withdrawing in 2011 or even 2012, given the caveats listed above, there will still be need for Karzai to be protected or accorded safe passage. It is nobody's case that by 2014 Karzai will capture the hearts and minds of all Afghans. We have some sort of script until 2014. But the script could change after the 2012 US presidential elections," Naqvi said.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
Indian journalist says Karzai wants US to strike 'sanctuaries of terror' in Pakistan
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has asked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sit down "individually" or "collectively" with the Pakistani leadership and have a "heart-to-heart chat" to settle issues for the sake of peace in Afghanistan.
He has also asked India to clear doubts of Islamabad so they need not run to the Americans with stories of "Indian plots".
Saeed Naqvi, a journalist, who had an hour-long discussion with the Afghan president recently, revealed this on Friday. Initiating a discussion on "Afghanistan Today and Tomorrow", Naqvi quoted Karzai as saying, "I urge New Delhi to talk to Pakistan."
He said Afghan President Hamid Karzai also felt that India was not applying pressure on the United States to attack 'sanctuaries of terror' in Pakistan. Naqvi said though his discussion with the Afghan president was off-the-record, Karzai was willing to be quoted on three issues. The US is not striking at sanctuaries of terror in Pakistan, India is not applying pressure on the US just to do that and India should talk to Pakistan to settle issues.
Naqvi quoted close aides of former head of the Afghan National Security Services, Amrullah Saleh, as saying that "earlier the US wanted to defeat Taliban. Now they want to weaken them. For his own reasons, perhaps Karzai too, does not wish to defeat them".
"The enemy is headquartered in Pakistan and he should be defeated there. For the US, the expendable part of the Taliban is in Afghanistan. Karzai asserts why should I collaborate with NATO to kill the Afghans they consider expendable?" the aide asked. "Moreover, if Pakistan can survive playing a double game, why cant I," he added.
Naqvi said though US President Barack Obama is committed to July 2011 as the date for beginning to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, the possibility of a real withdrawal was remote. The US may scale down some strength as in the case of Iraq, he said.
"If the US is actually planning departure, why is it building a consulate in the heart of Mazar-e-Sharif on a scale which would dwarf large embassies," he asked.
"The US troops have left Iraq. But 50,000 troops will remain in the various bases which are, ultimately, like country houses - open the locks and they are fully functional again," he said.
"If President Karzai is to remain in Kabul until 2014, surely he will require protection till then. If the US and NATO are to start withdrawing in 2011 or even 2012, given the caveats listed above, there will still be need for Karzai to be protected or accorded safe passage. It is nobody's case that by 2014 Karzai will capture the hearts and minds of all Afghans. We have some sort of script until 2014. But the script could change after the 2012 US presidential elections," Naqvi said.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
