WASHINGTON — The United States and NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan have told President Hamid Karzai’s government that they expect him to remain in office for another five-year term and will work with him on an expanded campaign to turn insurgent fighters against the Taliban and other militant groups.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other NATO foreign ministers, meeting Friday in New York with Afghan counterparts, reached “consensus” that Karzai would probably “continue to be president,” whether through a runoff or as the winner of more than 50 percent of votes cast in disputed Aug. 20 elections, an Obama administration official said.
What Karzai has called “reconciliation” with insurgents who agree to lay down their arms is emerging as a major factor in administration deliberations about a way forward in Afghanistan, officials said.
Along with plans to increase the size of the Afghan security forces, the U.S. military is developing programs to offer monetary and other inducements to insurgents it thinks are only loosely tied to the Taliban.
“I think that success in Afghanistan looks a great deal like success in Iraq,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
The situation in Iraq improved after Sunni tribes turned against al-Qaeda and accepted a security alliance with U.S. forces. Success in Iraq, however, also depended on an increase in U.S. troops, a question that is unanswered in Afghanistan.
Two U.S. service members died Saturday in Afghanistan — one from a roadside bomb and the other from an insurgent attack, the NATO-led force said Sunday.
