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THE STANS
US sticks with air strikes despite new Afghan anger

US won't stop air strikes despite Afghan anger
The United States will not hamper its forces in Afghanistan by banning air strikes but will redouble efforts to limit civilian casualties, National Security Advisor James Jones said Sunday. "We can't fight with one hand tied behind our back," General Jones said on ABC, arguing that Afghan President Hamid Karzai "understands that we have to have the full complement of our offensive military power when we need it." "We're going to take a look at trying to make sure that we correct those things we can correct, but certainly to tie the hands of our commanders and say we're not going to conduct air strikes, it would be imprudent," he said. Karzai, who was in Washington last week, called for a halt to the air strikes after alleging that one had killed up to 130 Afghan villagers including women and children. "That's part of the combined arms package and so we probably would not do that," Jones said of the strikes. "But we are going to take very seriously the (criticism) and redouble our efforts to make sure that innocent civilians are not killed." US regional commander General David Petraeus acknowledged bitter Afghan criticism about civilian casualties but said the Taliban bear "enormous blame" themselves. The head of US Central Command told Fox News Sunday that he had spoken with Karzai about the issue in Washington. Both the US and Afghan sides agreed that "we have to be very, very sensitive that our tactical actions ... in close air support and other enablers does not undermine our strategic goals and objectives," he said. "We'll certainly relook this, yet again, in the wake of this latest incident," Petraeus said. In a separate interview with Fox News Sunday, Petraeus vowed: "We are going to do a very thorough investigation of this. I've appointed a brigadier general with extensive experience in conventional and special operations who will go out to Afghanistan and look at it more broadly as well." Petraeus said he would seek to ensure forces are familiar with orders issued by the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, "so that our tactical actions don't undermine our strategic goals and objectives." But he added to CNN that Afghanistan's own investigations had shown that the "Taliban bears enormous blame for this latest incident" by firing on US troops from inside villagers' houses.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) May 10, 2009
 The United States vowed Sunday to persist with air strikes in Afghanistan despite bitter new criticism from the nation's leader Hamid Karzai about their morality as the civilian death toll mounts.

President Barack Obama's national security advisor, James Jones, said the United States would "redouble" efforts to limit civilian casualties but would not hamper its forces in Afghanistan by banning the air strikes.

"We can't fight with one hand tied behind our back," General Jones said on ABC television, arguing President Karzai "understands that we have to have the full complement of our offensive military power when we need it."

US regional commander General David Petraeus also took on board Karzai's criticism about the impact on civilians, but said the "Taliban bears enormous blame" by firing on US troops from inside villagers' houses.

After a week of talks in Washington that included a White House summit with Obama, Karzai said US forces risked being seen by Afghans as little better than the extremists they are fighting.

The war against the resurgent Taliban was not in itself "immoral," he said on NBC.

"It's the standard of morality that we are seeking, which is also one that is being desired and spoken about in America," Karzai said, after a US attack last week that he said had killed up to 130 Afghan villagers.

"In other words, are we the same as the terrorists? Are we the same as the bad guys? Or are we standing on a much higher moral platform? Are we better human beings or not?

"The Afghan people say we are fighting together with shoulder to shoulder against terrorism. That we are part of the struggle. Our homes, our villages are not places for terrorism."

Jones said that while US forces did not deliberately target civilians, the Taliban were "not playing by the same rules."

"They're using civilians as shields," he said. "So it's a difficult problem, but it's not unsolvable."

Petraeus meanwhile noted that with the Taliban making inroads into Pakistan itself, there was a "degree of unanimity" among Pakistan's civilian and military leaders about the need to fight back.

"This is a Pakistani fight, a Pakistani battle, with elements that ... threaten the very existence of the Pakistani state," the head of US Central Command said on Fox News.

Petraeus rejected US lawmakers' concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in the face of the Taliban encroachments.

"We have confidence in their security procedures and elements and believe that the security of those sites is adequate."

Zardari admitted that Pakistan had "a problem" with the fundamentalist Taliban militia inside its borders, but said his nation was not on the verge of "collapse."

"No. We are 180 million people. There the population is much, much more than the insurgents are," Zardari said, fending off a mounting clamor against his leadership from US lawmakers.

Pakistan's military said Sunday it had killed between 180 and 200 insurgents in the past 24 hours in a fierce offensive to push Taliban fighters out of the Swat valley in the country's northwest.

The military has been pounding the Swat valley and nearby districts, triggering an exodus of refugees, after Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Islamabad despite a February peace deal.

But with Zardari pressing for billions more in aid from the Obama administration, many US lawmakers remain skeptical of the Pakistani government and military.

"There was just an air of smugness, flippancy when serious questions were asked," Republican Senator Bob Corker told CNN, looking back on a luncheon with Zardari, Karzai and members of Congress Thursday.

While intensifying its political pressure on Pakistan, the Obama administration is increasing its military involvement in Afghanistan with more strikes on extremist targets and the deployment of 21,000 extra US troops.

Karzai said the reinforcements were arriving "late" but that "it's never too late for a good thing."

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THE STANS
Pakistan won't collapse: Zardari
 Washington (AFP) May 10, 2009
 Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied his nuclear-armed nation was on the verge of collapse as top US officials Sunday welcomed his government's bloody military offensive against the Taliban. "Is the state of Pakistan going to collapse?" Zardari said in an NBC interview aired Sunday, after White House talks last week with President Barack Obama that were also attended by Afghan Preside ... read more






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