April 5th, 2010
03:18 PM ET
Gibbs: White House 'frustrated' by Karzai remarks
The White House is "frustrated" by remarks from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who on Sunday promised tribal leaders he would hold back a NATO military offensive in violence-plagued Kandahar province until he had their backing, a White House spokesman said Monday.
"We will not conduct the operations in Kandahar until you say we can," Karzai told about 1,000 tribal leaders at a shura, or conference, at the governor's compound in the southern province.
"The remarks are genuinely troubling," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in an off-camera session.
Karzai sounds like a loose cannon...nothing short of a lunatic....get r done...go in erradicate the poppy fields...get the Taliban...& Karzai if needed,,,,,,,,Get our Troops home!
Unbelievable! Hamid Karzai standing up to the U.S. and taking matters into his own hands?We need more people to stand up to the right-wing thugs in Washington instead of being subserviant to them!
we should start leaving now maybe we can leave now with the troops from iraq If we get the heck out now, they will start fighting with all the nukes and get rid themselves once and for all, with modern nuke power it might be the end to them once and for all..
American military(whether though Nato or any other desguise) is in Afgaistan(and just about everywhere else) for perceived US interest.....worst thing about human puppets...they have a mind of their own.
Who cares about Karzai? We just don't want to leave a boot camp for Al Quaeda in place
Lest we forget, having been baffled with BS and distracted by Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11/2001, we were supposed to be going after Bin Laden who was safely harbored in Afghanistan. The reforms that we have brought to them is almost as baffling and ineffective as what we have given Iraq.
I find our state deoartment to be as far from "getting it" as possible.
There is a great, but true, line in the movie Massada, that I believ is true of all of the middle eastern factions. When the Roman asked how he could finally defeat the jews, there leader cautioned that as long as they had a common enemy, they would never give up, only if left alone and to their own agenda, would they fall to the inherent tendency of their society, to fight and disagree among themselves.
This is true virtually everywhere that there are foreign troops on the ground, It matters not if those are US,Russian, Nato or Chineese- foreign troops are not welcome.
Being tribal leaders, I assume they have been there for a while, allowed the incursion of terrorists, Doesn't it make more sense to tell them, clean up Kandahar or we will. and- Depanding upon your progress will determine when/if we'll be arriving in force.
I think Karzai is fast becoming a mole in the House.NATO should watch him!
What is troubling here is not so much President Karzai's pronouncement that he would seek the approval of the tribal leaders before the all out offensive by the US led Nato forces on Kandahar, as (it is) the entire world being thrown out of balance because it was caught unaware of such a consideration. President Karzai is well within his right to muster and rally support from the entire Afghan nation. But there is obviously a failure of communication and coordination for it to transpire after the Nato forces' announcement that the planned attack would take place in June. The least that President Karzai should have done was to notify government leaders of his intention and consult with Nato officials of the need to court the approval of these tribal leaders. Measures should definitely be undertaken to avoid similar incidents from taking place in the future. In the meantime, efforts should be exerted to assuage concerns and provide adequate assurances to the people of Kandahar that this is the best course of action and that it needs to executed at the soonest possible time.
President Karzai is full of corruption
If President Karzai doesn't support President Obama we should pull out of Afghanistan as well.
This stratagey of Hamid Karzai is a good idea not a bad approach at all. The Americans should hold and think before reacting to this idea.
The tribal elders should be made to commite to peace and progress in the Distt.Further, Karzai has to do his part , i.e. restore good administration and eradicate corruption in Govt.Then only Karzai`s approach will succeed. The Allied Forces in any case are there to help them to fight the militants.
US Admn should not over react, but should discuss plans with Hamid Karzai instead. God bless all the troops fighting for the people of Afganistan . JAI HO
Afghanistan President Karzai is quickly replacing the image across the entire Middle East of what happens to Middle Eastern leaders that have become allied to the United States, surpassing the poster child Saddam Hussein that was a previous ally of the United States.
Perhaps if a Republican White House is ever again voted into office, former President Karzai will suddenly be deluged with War Crime charges to further discredit him in a typical CIA smear campaign.
Without a doubt, this unfolding and escalating fall-out by America's ally in Afghanistan comes after the CIA raided the UN and Karzai's envoy brokered peace meetings with the Taliban commanders in Pakistan.
It appears that President Karzai is acting and speaking as if the Taliban offered President Karzai a better deal and arrangement than the United States has.
I think 'frustrated' is the understatement of the entire year 2010 in regards to Afghanistan President Karzi telling the Afghanistan Parliament that if foreign nations keep interfering with Afghanistan's political activity's, President Karzi would switch sides and JOIN THE TALIBAN.
Yes, President Karzi before a meeting of is lawmakers told them the President of Afghanistan would join the Taliban if foreign country's continued to interfere with Afghanistan's political process's.
Frustrated Gibbs? NO, it is beyond such a definition. Thousands of American soldiers have given their lives to keep Karzi in office. And Karzi's statement underscores the house of cards which America has built in Afghanistan with it's 'Shake and Bake government's' plan.