Clarification to This Article
Earlier versions of the story contained a sentence that may have given the impression that Presidents Obama and Medvedev discussed START at a meeting in Seoul. Although Obama did see Medvedev in Seoul, they discussed START in Yokohama during the APEC summit one week ago. This version has been corrected.
Earlier versions of the story contained a sentence that may have given the impression that Presidents Obama and Medvedev discussed START at a meeting in Seoul. Although Obama did see Medvedev in Seoul, they discussed START in Yokohama during the APEC summit one week ago. This version has been corrected.
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NATO adopts transition plan for Afghan war
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NATO nations meeting in Portugal have agreed to start turning over Afghanistan's security to its military next year. The plan would give local forces full control by 2014. (Nov. 20)
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In an interview with The Washington Post this month, Karzai sharply criticized the raids, which he said were part of an excessive foreign military presence in Afghan towns and villages that disturbed the population and violated cultural norms. Among other things, he has also objected to the coalition's employing private security contractors to guard development aid sites and supply convoys, and said that coalition operations cause unnecessary civilian casualties.
Karzai, who attended the Saturday meeting, repeated his concerns to the coalition leaders and again in a half-hour session later with Obama.
"We're happy to see an understanding on Afghan demands," Karzai said in a news conference Saturday after signing a partnership agreement with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "I hope that as we move forward that many of these difficulties will go away."
Objectives 'aligned' Asked about their meeting, Obama recalled that Karzai had initially set the 2014 date for transition and that their objectives were now "aligned."
On Karzai's complaints, he said that "we have to be sensitive to his concerns and the concerns of the Afghan people. We can't simply tell them what's good for them . . . We have to listen and learn."
"On the other hand," he said, "If we're putting in big resources, if we're ponying up billions of dollars, if we're expecting that our troops are going to be there and to help secure the countryside and ensure that President Karzai can continue to build and develop his country, he's got to listen to us, as well."
"I don't fault President Karzai for raising those issues," Obama said. But "he's got to understand that I've got a bunch of young men and women from small towns and big cities all across America who are in a foreign country being shot at. . . . If we're setting things up where they're just sitting ducks for the Taliban, that's not an acceptable issue, either."
"I don't think that's unreasonable, and I don't think he thinks that's unreasonable," Obama said of Karzai, adding that the important thing was to keep talking to each other. "Sometimes," he said, "those conversations are very blunt."
Correspondent Edward Cody contributed to this report. 