Afghanistan: Karzai complains U.S. not cooperating with Afghan investigation into Kandahar area killings

In a meeting with tribal elders and officials President Karzai condemned Americans refusal to to cooperate with the Afghan investigation into the recent killing of civilians in the Kandahar area. Karzai said:“This has been going on for too long,.. “this is by all means the end of the rope here.”

Although the U.S. has promised its own investigations the accused has already been removed to a prison in Kansas in the U.S. No doubt the Afghan authorities had no chance to interview him and probably never will. Karzai noted that his delegation rejected the current U.S. version of a single shooter and the group thought that “this was not carried out by one man and was a deliberate and intentional act.”

From the beginning of this event I have been struck by the fact that on the whole western main-stream media have for the most part simply accepted the official U.S. view in spite of a number of eyewitness testimonies that flatly contradict the story.

There have been calls by Afghan legislators that the accused face a public trial in Afghanistan. Of course the U.S. would never allow him to be tried by Afghans and it is exceedingly doubtful that they will ever let him return to Afghanistan even for a U.S. military trial.

In the press several authorities point out that the accused could face major punishment even the death penalty. The U.S. has never executed one of their own for ages although there are some on military death row. For more see this article.

Afghanistan war: U.S. may stay in Afghanistan until 2024

  In the middle of November President Karzai held a four day loya jirga a meeting of over 2,000 tribal elders. His aim was to gain support for his plan to have U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan up to a full ten years after the present plans to hand over security to Afghans in 2014.
  Karzai and the U.S. had been planning an agreement back in August as this Telegraph article shows. Rather than presenting his plans directly to parliament President Karzai invited this large group of elders to the loya jirga and gain support first from them. It worked. He did get support but with several important provisos.
   The group suggested that Karzai talk to the Americans about an extension of  troop presence only if night raids were stopped. They also insisted that any detainees be handed over to Afghan custody. Finally they want the parliament to pass any agreement. The resolution from the group is non-binding so that one can expect Karzai will do his best to get around any provisions that he or the Americans find unacceptable.
   Meanwhile night raids continue to take their toll. Helicopters fired rockets in the Zairi district of Kandahar province that killed 3 Afghan women. The week before a NATO air strike killed nine civilians in the same area. As with  these news events, the news that the U.S. may be staying in Afghanistan until 2024 does not seem to be widely distributed. Are all those expert talking heads on major TV networks discussing this issue?  For more see here.