Afghanistan Strategic Partnership May Hinge On Immunity For US Troops

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In his first public remarks since the finalization of a partnership agreement that would put U.S. troops in a supporting role by the end of 2014, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday that tough negotiations over America's long-term presence in the country were far from over.

Talks over the formulation of a bilateral security agreement, which would have to take up the many specific sticking points that this week's partnership agreement avoids, "will be an even more difficult negotiation," Karzai said at a press conference in Kabul.

"Our hope from the U.S. is that they understand the sensitivities that our country has," Karzai said. "We'll consider their interests, but we hope that they don't demand what is not possible."

At the top of the list of those sensitivities is the issue of immunity for U.S. troops who commit wrongdoings, said Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, in a conversation with The Huffington Post later in the day.

"In the next round of talks we will have to deal very seriously with this issue," Faizi said.

The strategic partnership agreement signed this week does not include provisions for a handful of important components of the post-2014 American military presence, including how much funding the U.S. would give Afghanistan, and the exact number of troops that would stay. Failing to come to terms on those points, as well as on legal details like immunity, could jeopardize the entire pact, experts say.

Indeed, immunity turned out to be the main sticking point last year, when the U.S. and Iraq failed to come to a new status of forces agreement, leading to the full withdrawal of all American troops despite both countries' stated desire to see some American military presence remain.

American officials in Kabul have generally sought to downplay concerns that a similar situation could happen here, with U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker telling reporters on Wednesday that it was not worth fretting over the issue just yet.

"Without wanting to sound wildly optimistic, we do have a year to work our way through these issue," Crocker said. "An extreme long-term prediction for me would be a week from Friday."

But the public uproar over a number of recent incidents, including the burning of Qurans at an American military base and the massacre of dozens of villagers in the remote district of Panjwai, for which an American soldier has been charged, has added to the sense that a deal on immunity may prove politically difficult for Karzai.

"The recent incidents here -- the Quran burning, Panjwai -- those have certainly had their impact on the issue of immunity," Faizi said. "If there's a case of a soldier killing civilians, that causes a big problem for us, and it will cause a problem for the issue of immunity."

In private discussions, Faizi said, Karzai has made it clear that while he might be willing to accept legal immunities for troops conducting approved operations, he would not tolerate a repeat of how the U.S. handled the accused shooter in Panjwai, who was flown out of the country before the investigations had finished, infuriating Karzai.

"When it's a legal case, the president can go to the people and say that it was accidental, in the course of legal operations," Faizi said. "But when it's an intentional killing like the case of Panjwai, the president won't be able to calm the people down. And this makes it very difficult for us."

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Comments

[fireart]

03:01 PM on 05/06/2012

I wonder if the first lady is proud at this moment.

[AZreb]

08:54 AM on 05/06/2012

Balloons up! The pact has been signed!! But wait - now there are these itty-bitty piddly little things like immunity for our troops to worry about.

Guess the celebration should have been postponed until all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed.

If our president agrees to allow our troops to be charged and prosecuted by the Afghanistan government, then there should be massive protests in our country. Turning any of our military over to one of the most corrupt governments in the world would be unconscionable!

[WalterRetlaw]

12:12 AM on 05/06/2012

I've always struggled with the idea of "Rules of War". On the one hand, it's good that people are held responsible for their brutality and viciousness, but on the other hand, it makes the entire act of warfare much more palatable to the public, and therefore much more likely to occur.

War is unpleasant business. It always has been and always will be. Murder, rape and torture is a natural byproduct of warfare. And you can't pretty it up, no matter how many people you execute after the fact. It seems awfully unfair to expect every kid we've sent off to murder complete strangers to do it "professionally" without emotion. Some people snap once they start killing people. Some people become very emotional about it, and react irrationally or violently to the experience. And that's not something you can weed out during training. The real thing is much different than make believe, especially when the business of killing becomes your everyday life.

The problem is, our courts hold a very idealized, and glorious concept of warfare. They do not view it realistically, because the reality is too hard for them to stomach. No matter how many rules are written, innocent people will suffer and die when a war is fought, regardless of good intentions. If the public and courts accepted that fact, I think it's possible fewer aggressive wars would be fought.

[Liban CZ]

07:44 PM on 05/05/2012

Partnership sounds little too cosy, in my view.....

[Harold R Hunt Sr]

12:18 AM on 05/05/2012

bring our troops home now. Give the 12million illegal mexicans their own country. Either Iraq Or afghanistan.

[BG-back]

06:12 AM on 05/05/2012

I think they've learnt after giving P@|3stine away that it doesn't really work like that...

[Pauline Jaing]

07:51 AM on 05/05/2012

I've learned that they do not learn! We got a glimpse of this with Bush, who NEVER admitted to making a mistake.

These are brain deaders, I wonder we have not collapsed before now, I think the only reason is that others in the world did not want us to!

[spach10]

02:44 PM on 05/05/2012

I wasn't aware that America OWNED these countries.....just being American I guess....

[Harold R Hunt Sr]

07:40 AM on 05/06/2012

we don't but we can just send the illegal mexican there . keep america clean send 12 million illegas back. Americans needs job. no more free rides.

[Harold R Hunt Sr]

12:14 AM on 05/05/2012

The easy way to end this war is to give 12 million illegal mexican a ticket for a free trip. but make one way with no return. tell them this is their new counrty. and tell them they can't come back.until they kill the taliban.this way we would save american lives and american money. you can just give them a cap gun and say shoot. HELP KEEP AMERICAN CLEAN SEND A ILLEGAL MEXICAN TO AFGHANISTAN. END THE WAR AND SEND OUR TROOPS HOME NOW..

[fireart]

02:41 PM on 05/06/2012

Clean of what?

[FearlessLeader]

11:45 PM on 05/04/2012

"The recent incidents here -- the Quran burning, Panjwai -- those have certainly had their impact on the issue of immunity,"

The Afghan government wants to be able to try U.S. soldiers for blasphemy? Wonderful.

[Syni Cal]

07:47 AM on 05/05/2012

They would also quite likely want to be able to put them on trial for child murder, perhaps you could explain what's wrong with that.

[fireart]

02:42 PM on 05/06/2012

You need to get out more. That rock is causing pressure on your brain.

[Chopin]

11:26 PM on 05/04/2012

US WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ REDUX, VIETNAM REDUX.

Let's reduce facts to their basic elements, based on what people know. Obama wants US forces to stay in Afghanistan for at least 10years beyond 2014. Why? To "train Afghan military"? What, takes 20years to train some colonial forces? (eyes roll 360degrees!) Obama wants American people to believe that stuff. Is there any American awake who would buy that story?

So what really is the American imperial presence in Afghanistan all about? Obama is doing bidding of MIC bosses and corporate cabals who have vested interests in American oil+gas pipelines through Afghanistan, and future extraction of enormous 'rare-earth' mineral deposits in Afghanistan. That's bottomline. General Smedley Butler called that a "racket". To advance those private interests, tens of thousands of young Americans and hundreds of thousands of Afghanis would die. In the end, the thoroughly corrupt puppet Afghan government will fall, and Afghanistan will revert back to the way it was before 2000. Now, how many Americans think that's just, sane, wise, or worth it?

Let's do some rational prediction. More American atrocities on Afghan civilians will come out. After next major atrocity, Afghan people's reaction will force their puppet parliament to reject any SOFA treaty immunity to US troops. In the end, Washington will be forced to withdraw all remaining troop presence, same as from Iraq. It's predictable. So, what's it all for? What's all those deaths and destruction about?

[rafey]

09:04 AM on 05/06/2012

Of course, it takes little more than 6 months to train any army, provided they are willing and able. No. I can no longer think of any good reason to vote for Obama but for the fact that the GOP would have done the same and their "financial plan" is grossly misaligned with reality. So, you are probably correct that this is more about private interests than about strategy. Too bad only poor folks go into the military these days. Of course, if the GOP gets back in, they are already talking about bringing back the draft. But then, maybe that will stop all this via mass protests.

[fireart]

02:45 PM on 05/06/2012

You just thought that up didnt you.

[Chopin]

03:49 AM on 05/07/2012

Neither parties would consider the draft in foreseeable future. Both parties are going in the opposite direction. The trend is to outsource and privatize wars, invasions and occupations to private mercenaries, and militarized drones. They have too much to gain in privatization, and too much to lose in making it a broad national public cause. Whether that's done under the aegis of SeeEyeAce or blackwater makes no substantive difference. Both are unaccountable to the American people's public interests. That's what the long historical record shows, particularly in the most recent decade. The evidence started surfacing during the Iran-Contra privatized war and funding scandal during Reagan presidency.

[Wilfredo Amr Ruiz]

10:03 PM on 05/04/2012

Pls read my column on Afghanistan in today's HuffPost:
The President's Missing Notes on Afghanistan ;
here the link: http://huff.to/JjDaJN

[fireart]

02:51 PM on 05/06/2012

I read and am impressed. Very good.

[Wilfredo Amr Ruiz]

02:06 PM on 05/15/2012

Thanks for the comment FireArt..

[Rubiconski]

10:02 PM on 05/04/2012

Jump into your jeeps boys and head for the border!

And NO MORE Imperialist wars of aggression!

[aperdue1lexus]

04:15 PM on 05/04/2012

we should pull our troops out and leave them to themselves.....

[allthisbull]

02:40 PM on 05/04/2012

If there's anything to be done again like the burning of the qurans books, let the top officers do it they want it done they can do it 7 of our soldiers that we know of lost their lives because they were told to do the burning per the law of the afgan's see what happened! Better yet pack them all up and ship them to the white house let them be responsible for something!
We can't wait to have a leader for our soldiers and our country in November. This has been completely one big cess pool of chaos, like the blind leading the blind the last 4 years.
It's totally unbelievable that 'he' would even think of giving them aid for 10 years just unbelievable!

[pcs5141]

04:37 PM on 05/04/2012

Burning old or DEFACED qurans IS acceptable under their rules.Burying or putting into a stream,ect is also acceptable.This was a big deal over nothing,just an excuse to rile up the extremists.I am against the agreement that will continue to cost us 2 BILLION a year and keep us entangled over there.One of the stated tactics of alquida is to drain our power by keeping us engaged in never ending conflicts.

[Talab]

09:43 AM on 05/06/2012

" One of the stated tactics of alquida is to drain our power by keeping us engaged in never ending conflicts"
Wow the Military Industrial Complex in America has the unstated aim to drain our money by keeping us engaged in unending conflicts ... are these guys cousins or what ?

[threecardbrag]

02:35 PM on 05/04/2012

SO HE WENT ON A ELECTION CAMPAIGN WELL HOW MUCH DID IT COST IN HUMAN BLOOD

[fireart]

02:54 PM on 05/06/2012

Not to mention the wounded.

[blutopie]

02:31 PM on 05/04/2012

Like Iraq, the best thing that can happen for the US is to put us out of our misery and declare that American troops certainly WILL NOT have immunity for war crimes

That's what got us out of Iraq, despite the Neocon's wishes, and that is what will get us out of Afghanistan, despite the Neocon's wishes

For Afghanistan, the sooner the CIA agent Karzai is deposed the better. Afghanistan can develop as it's wishes with it's trillions in rare earth minerals and gas pipeline rentals

All Karzai is doing is seling out his country in exchange for billions in his own private bank accounts, used to buy luxury homes in Dubai and around the world,

[uk progressive]

11:38 AM on 05/04/2012

I'm sure the Taliban will grant immunity for US troops when they take re-take Kabul.