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В. Кашин
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23.05.2005 20:50:49
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Рубрики
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Локальные конфликты;
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Карзай идет по пятам Кадырова
Добрый день!
В смысле - выдвигает к метрополии глупые и наглые требования.
Находясь с визитом в США потребовал у Буша наделить афганское правительство полномочиями давать приказы американским войскам в стране - и был послан.Вообще у него трения с обкомом нарастают - пытается добываться выдачи афганцев с Гуантанамо и недостаточно активен в борьбе с возделыванием наркотиков.
Bush Rebuffs Karzai's Request on Troops
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
President Bush said Monday that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will remain under U.S. control despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's request for more authority over them.
"Of course, our troops will respond to U.S. commanders," Bush said, with Karzai standing at his side at the White House. At the same time, Bush said the relationship between Washington and Kabul is "to cooperate and consult" on military operations.
There are about 20,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, costing about $1 billion a month. That is in addition to approximately 8,200 troops from NATO countries in Kabul and elsewhere.
Bush also said that Afghan prisoners under U.S. control in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere, would be slowly returned to their home countries.
"We will do this over time," he said. "We have to make sure the facilities are there."
Bush had high praise for Karzai as a valued anti-terror partner and credited the Afghan leader with "showing countries in the neighborhood what's possible."
Karzai thanked Bush for helping to put his country on the path to democracy. But he also came to their meeting with a long list of grievances.
Karzai wants more control over U.S. military operations in his country, custody of Afghan prisoners held by the United States and more assistance in fighting opium trade.
As for the opium-heroin trade, Bush said, "I made it very clear to the president that we have got to work together to eradicate the poppy crop."
Karzai commented on recent reports of abuse of Afghan prisoners by their American captors. "We are of course sad about that," he said, speaking in fluent English. But, he added, "It does not reflect on the American people."
Similarly, a report — later retracted — in Newsweek magazine earlier this month that alleged mistreatment of the Quran by American prison guards does not reflect American values, Karzai said.
While claiming the original report was not responsible journalism, Karzai said, "Newsweek's story is not America's story. That's what we understrand in Afghanistan."
Saying that he himself had been to a mosque in Washington, Karzai noted that many thousands of Muslims are going on a daily basis to mosques in America, without incident.
The two leaders addressed reporters in the East Room of the White House.
Bush welcomed his guest as the "first democratically elected leader in the 5,000- year history of Afghanistan."
"And your leadership has been strong," Bush added.
Bush and Karzai pledged to work more closely together amid continued instability and protests in Afghanistan.
"It's important for the Afghan people to understand that we have a strategic vision about our relationship with Afghanistan," Bush said.
He said the United States and Afghanistan had signed a "strategic partnership" that establishes "regular high-level exchanges on ... economic issues of mutual interest. "
"We will consult with Afghanistan if it perceives its territorial integrity, independence or security is at risk," Bush said.
Karzai said that he hoped Afghanistan would be free of opium poppy crops within five to six years and that Afghan farmers could find alternative crops like honeydew melons and pomegranates.
Opium poppies are the raw material for heroin. Their cultivation has rocketed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Last year, cultivation reached a record 323,700 acres, yielding nearly 80 percent of world supply.
"Indeed, Afghanistan is suffering from the cultivation of poppies, which is undermining our economy," Karzai said. "It's giving us a bad name, worst of all."
Ahead of their meeting, Karzai said that he wanted more control of U.S. forces in his country and to take over custody of the hundreds of Afghans detained in military jails in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during and after the 2001 U.S. invasion that ousted the repressive Taliban regime.
Karzai began his U.S. stay by sharply denying a reported State Department cable that said he has not worked strongly enough to curtail production of opium, the raw material for heroin. The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said the U.S. crackdown there has not been very effective, in part because Karzai "has been unwilling to assert strong leadership," The New York Times reported Sunday.
Recent anti-American protests across Afghanistan killed at least 15 people and threatened a security crisis for Karzai's feeble central government.
The White House blamed the May 9 Newsweek report for igniting the violence.
С уважением, Василий Кашин