Top US Commander denies Karzai’s 'America, Taliban working together' claim

A top US commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, rejected the allegations made by afghan president's claim that US and the Taliban are working together to spread fear among Afghans as "categorically false," CBS News reports.

Karzai said in a television speech that the two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on Saturday were proof the US and the Taliban are 'trying to frighten Afghans into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents.'

Karzai''s accusations came out of the blue, in the middle of a televised address honoring Afghan women, an address his office scheduled just Saturday, right in the middle of a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

He claimed that the US and the Taliban continue to hold "daily negotiations" in the Gulf state of Qatar, working in coordination to destabilize Afghanistan, the report said.

[Source] | [Photo]
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Karzai: U.S. has endangered security pact

 Afghanistan's president said Saturday the United States had put the two countries' security pact at risk with a unilateral air strike that killed 18 civilians, and a Taliban suicide bomber killed four French soldiers responding to a tip-off about a bomb hidden under a bridge.

The violence and the dispute highlight the muddled nature of the international mission in Afghanistan as NATO coalition countries try to shift to a training role in a country still very much at war.

The majority of NATO and U.S. forces are scheduled to leave the country by the end of 2014, but the exit is looking far from neat at the beginning of the hot summer months, when fighting typically surges.

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Hollande defends troop pullout on Afghanistan visit

President Francois Hollande visited Afghanistan on Friday to defend France's imminent departure from the war, telling troops that it would be coordinated closely with Afghan and NATO allies.

Hollande with Karzai

Hollande met French soldiers deployed in the volatile province of Kapisa and held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on his first visit to the country where French troops have been fighting the Taliban since the 2001 US-led invasion.

He explained his decision to recall French combat troops by the end of 2012, a year earlier than Paris initially planned, and two years before NATO allies.

Read more: France24

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Obama warns Nato of 'hard days ahead' in Afghanistan

US President Barack Obama has warned of "hard days ahead" at a Nato summit in Chicago dominated by the issue of withdrawal from Afghanistan.

France's new President Francois Hollande has again said he will pull French troops out by the end of 2012, nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Nato is preparing to hand over security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

Read more: BBC News

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Kabul siege: Karzai labels it a NATO Intelligence Failure

Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Monday that a coordinated Taliban attack showed a "failure" by Afghan intelligence and especially by Nato, as heavy street fighting between insurgents and security forces came to an end after 18 hours. 

Battles which broke out at midday on Sunday gripped the city's central districts through the night, with large explosions and gunfire lighting up alleys and streets. 

"The fact terrorists were able to enter Kabul and other provinces was an intelligence failure for us and especially for Nato," Karzai's office said. 

Read more: The Times of India

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Loya Jirga (Grand Council) held inAfghanistan

Full Story: Yahoo 16 Nov

A Loya Jirga (Grand Council) of Afghan elders / tribal heads was held in Kabul, Afghanistan Wednesday. The Afghan president Karzai while addressing the gathering told the elders that partnership with the United States depended on ending unpopular nighttime NATO raids against insurgents and handing over control of detention centers to Afghan troops.

Karzai also called upon the for a national conference to help create a fair framework for relations with the U.S. and find a path to peace for the turbulent country.

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