KABUL — President Hamid Karzai’s critique of U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan over the weekend was not intended as a vote of no-confidence in Gen. David Petraeus, but rather was a sign of a “maturing partnership” in which both sides are willing to speak frankly, Karzai’s spokesman said Monday.
“This kind of debate has always been there, and as the relationship is maturing, there is room for substantive reflection on both sides,” Waheed Omer told reporters at a news conference two days after Karzai, in an interview with The Washington Post, called on the United States to reduce military operations and end special operation raids that have killed or captured hundreds of Taliban commanders.
Omer said that Afghan and NATO officials agree on most of the current NATO strategy.
But he added that spirited debate on specific issues is “something that is going to take us to another level of partnership as we are hoping to arrive at in the near future.”
Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, was astonished and disappointed by the views Karzai expressed in the interview Saturday. The general reportedly did not attend a long-scheduled meeting with Karzai on Sunday, though Omer said no such meeting had been planned.
Omer said the president’s office has since contacted Petraeus’ staff and “clarified to NATO that the president is talking within the framework of transition.”
“When he talks about reduction of military activities and talks about the reduction of military force in Afghanistan, the president makes it conditioned on the ability of the Afghan security forces to take responsibility,” Omer added. “If everything in that interview is read within the overall context, we are sure that it is not much we disagree upon. And this has been communicated between us, and I think we are on good terms as far as the substance of the interview and the intent of the views expressed.”
Omer sought to tamp down any sign of a personal rift between Karzai and Petraeus, saying that the president “has made very clear in the interview about his confidence in General Petraeus. If you go through the full text, the president says the situation has improved here since (former commander Stanley) McChrystal and further improved after the arrival of General Petraeus.”
