Afghanistan's Karzai Agrees to New Deadline for Prison Handover

CNN | There's a new one-week deadline for handing over control of a U.S.-run detention center near Bagram Air Base to Afghan authorities, Afghanistan's president said Sunday. On Sunday, Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement that he had agreed to a request from U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for one week "to carry out the full handover the prison." (READ MORE)

Our Afghan ‘friends’ Part I: A delusional nut

Tribune-Review | Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 9:00 p.m. | Never advisable, America's reliance on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's corrupt, weak regime as an ally in the war on terrorism looks downright idiotic now that he's welcomed new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by absurdly accusing U.S. and Taliban forces of colluding. Just after Taliban suicide bombs outside the Afghan Ministry of Defense in Kabul and in Khost province killed 19 total, Mr. Karzai claimed in a speech “that the U.S. is holding peace talks with the radical Islamists and the bombs were in the ‘service of America,'” Bloomberg News reports. (READ MORE)

Bombings and rebuke mar Hagel's Afghanistan visit

By Jennifer Rowland | AfPak Channel |  In Kabul on Saturday, a suicide bomber detonated his vest outside the Afghan Ministry of Defense just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel arrived in the country, killing at least 10 people (NYT, NYT, AP, AJE). Shortly after that attack, another suicide bomber detonated his vest just before he reached a joint Afghan-American checkpoint in the eastern province of Khost, killing eight children and one policeman. Both attacks appeared to have been timed to coincide with Hagel's visit, his first as Secretary of Defense.
Further darkening Hagel's visit to Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai asserted during an early-morning news conference that the United States is effectively colluding with the Taliban in order to perpetuate the conflict and justify the continued presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan (NYT, WSJ, BBC, Post, Guardian, Reuters, AP, VOA). Karzai also accused the United States of sending mixed messages by calling the Taliban the enemy, while at the same time holding negotiations with the insurgent group "every day." And he called dismal predictions about the country's future "negative propaganda" created by and dispersed through Western media outlets. (READ MORE)

Afghan, NATO Troops Killed in Insider Attack

VOA News | March 11, 2013 | Kabul | NATO officials in Afghanistan say an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed several Afghan and U.S.-led coalition service members.

Authorities say the shooter in Monday's incident in Wardak province was believed to be an Afghan police officer.

The shooting comes a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first visit to Afghanistan was marred by a contentious speech by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a series of security threats Saturday that forced the cancellation of a scheduled news conference on Sunday with Karzai and Secretary Hagel. (READ MORE)

Hagel: US Not in Cahoots with Pakistan Taliban

CBNNews |Chuck Hagel's first trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary is not going smoothly. The Pentagon chief faces political tension with the Afghan president and a series of security problems.

President Hamid Karzai accused the United States on Sunday of working with the Taliban to show that violence in Afghanistan will increase if U.S. troops leave.     

Hagel disputed those claims and said he understands the Afghan president faces political pressures as the war winds down. (READ MORE)

Afghan President accuses US having secret plot with Taliban

Taiwan News | Website Editorial Staff  | The often volatile U.S. relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai was further strained Sunday as Karzai accused the U.S. and Taliban insurgents of having a secret understanding to foment violence as a pretext to keep foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The comments were the latest — and perhaps the most baffling — broadside by Karzai against one of his nation’s closest allies, leaving U.S. officials struggling to limit the fallout.  (READ MORE)

Afghan President Karzai accuses U.S. of colluding with Taliban

Ernesto Londono and Kevin Sieff | Denver Post | KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai lashed out at the United States in strikingly acerbic terms Sunday, implying that the American military was stoking violence in collusion with the Taliban to justify a prolonged presence here and charging that foreign troops were harassing Afghan university students.

The remarks painted an embarrassing picture of discord that marred Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first foreign trip as Pentagon chief and plunged the tenuous allies into crisis mode at a time when the United States is struggling to wind down the unpopular war in a dignified manner.  (READ MORE)