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Taliban should join Afghan peace talks: Karzai
Tue Nov 16, 3:02 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday urged the Taliban to join talks to bring peace to the war-torn country, despite the insurgents' leadership ruling out negotiations.
Afghan Taliban reject talks again
By Paul Tait – Mon Nov 15, 4:31 pm ET
KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban in Afghanistan remain utterly opposed to peace talks despite slow progress toward reconciliation, their leader said on Monday after NATO forces suffered their worst losses in months in a spike in violence.
Abdullah Criticises Karzai's Recent Comments
Najeeb Hazim Tolo news November 15, 2010
Dr Abdullah Abdullah has criticised president Karzai's recent comments to ban the US forces' night raids in Afghanistan
Afghanistan wants more Taliban off blacklist
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press – Mon Nov 15, 8:38 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Afghanistan urged the U.N. Security Council on Monday to remove additional members of the Taliban from its sanctions blacklist, a move it has sought to promote a political solution to the nine-year Afghan war.
Karzai Stirs 'Concerns' In Washington
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 16, 2010
WASHINGTON -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is again stirring reactions from Congress and the White House.
NATO-led forces base caught fire in Afghan E Kunar province
ASSADABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A base of NATO-led forces caught fire in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Monday, provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziae said.
Canada to send 950 military trainers to Afghanistan
OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada will send up to 950 military trainers to Afghanistan to help Afghan soldiers take over security after its combat troops exit next year, Canadian ministers said Tuesday.
Afghan poll candidate killed during holiday prayers
Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:30am EST By Fraidoon Elham
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A bomb in a graveyard in northern Afghanistan killed a parliamentary candidate and a retired policeman and wounded five, including a mayor, on Tuesday, an intelligence official said.
Mission beyond 2011 will send 950 soldiers across Afghanistan
Globe and Mail Campbell Clark Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010
The Conservative government will announce on Tuesday that it will send up to 950 troops to Afghanistan next year for a post-2011 training mission, government sources say.
Kazakhstan Allows US Air Transit For Supplies To Afghanistan
November 15, 2010
(RTTNews) - An agreement that enables the United States to transport by air its personnel and equipment across Kazakhstan's airspace to support American and coalition forces in Afghanistan has been signed.
Powell: Obama failed to focus on what's 'most important'
CNN International By the CNN Wire Staff November 16, 2010
While saying he talks regularly with President Obama and his administration's officials, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that the nation's 44th president has overreached and lost focus in his first term -- and lost votes because of it.
Iran, Afghanistan call for all-out economic cooperation
TEHRAN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Afghanistan called for all- out economic cooperation on Monday, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran FM says U.S. fails to bring peace, stability to Afghanistan
TEHRAN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday that the United States has failed to fight terrorism and bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
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Taliban should join Afghan peace talks: Karzai
Tue Nov 16, 3:02 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday urged the Taliban to join talks to bring peace to the war-torn country, despite the insurgents' leadership ruling out negotiations.
"On this holy day of Eid al-Adha I once again call on those compatriots who are unhappy, I request them to join the peace efforts," Karzai said in a statement to mark the major Muslim festival.
Karzai has previously appealed to the Taliban to come to the negotiating table and low-level commanders are said to have already spoken to the government in Kabul.
But the hardline group's reclusive, one-eyed leader Mullah Omar said on Monday that reports of their involvement in peace talks to bring an end to the bitter, nine-year conflict were "misleading rumours".
In his own lengthy statement to mark the biggest Muslim festival, Omar also dismissed the surge of tens of thousands of coalition troops as ineffective and again predicted defeat for foreign forces.
NATO leaders gather in the Portuguese capital Lisbon on Friday for a two-day summit that is likely to be dominated by the shift in strategy in Afghanistan, including the timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
There was a heavy security presence in Kabul and other Afghan cities for the festival, with vehicle searches and identity checks.
The capital has been spared much of the deadly violence that has afflicted other parts of the country in recent months, although last week there was a failed suicide attack on a convoy of international and Afghan troops.
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Afghan Taliban reject talks again
By Paul Tait – Mon Nov 15, 4:31 pm ET
KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban in Afghanistan remain utterly opposed to peace talks despite slow progress toward reconciliation, their leader said on Monday after NATO forces suffered their worst losses in months in a spike in violence.
Mullah Mohammad Omar, the secretive, one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban, issued a statement just four days before NATO leaders will gather for a summit in Lisbon where Afghanistan will be the top of the agenda.
Violence across Afghanistan was already at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001 but a dramatic increase in attacks in the past four days will be a sobering message for NATO leaders.
Military and civilian casualties are at record levels and while both sides have been talking up recent success on the battlefield, there is growing acceptance of the need for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
Omar reiterated that would not be possible until all foreign troops -- now at about 150,000 -- left Afghanistan, labeling talk of negotiations "mere propaganda."
"The cunning enemy which has occupied our country is trying, on the one hand, to expand its military operations ... and, on the other hand, wants to throw dust in the eyes of the people by spreading the rumors of negotiation," Omar said in a statement.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has included eventual talks with the Taliban as part of a wider reconciliation plan but Afghan and U.S. officials have played down confused and unconfirmed reports about talks with high-level insurgents, saying any contacts so far have only been preliminary.
Karzai's peace plan also will be addressed in Lisbon, with Afghanistan setting the ambitious target of 2014 for its forces to take over complete security responsibility.
President Barack Obama plans to begin a gradual drawdown of U.S. forces from July 2011. The chance of talks and the recent surge in violence also will play on his mind when he reviews his Afghanistan war strategy next month.
Many European NATO leaders are under pressure from an increasingly skeptical public to justify their continued support for the costly and drawn-out conflict.
In a weekend interview with The Washington Post, Karzai left little doubt that he thought it was time for foreign troops to begin cutting back on operations and reducing their visibility.
The interview also underscored his often uneasy relationship with Washington, which Karzai described as "grudging," although his office tried to smooth over the appearance of division.
"The relationship is maturing, the room for substantive reflection on both sides is widening, and this is something that is going to take us to another level of partnership," Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omer, told reporters.
Karzai is thought to have an uneasy relationship with U.S. General David Petraeus, the overall commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan and author of the counterinsurgency strategy.
Omer said Karzai was not a critic of the overall strategy but had voiced his views on how it could be improved.
In the interview, Karzai said the United States should end U.S. Special Operations forces night raids, a part of Petraeus' counter-insurgency strategy, saying they are a serious cause of Afghan disenchantment with NATO and with his own government.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she shared Karzai's concerns but saw the raids as necessary.
"There is no question that they are having a significant impact on the insurgent leadership and the networks that they operate," she told reporters, arguing that they were in the interest of Afghanistan's people, government and NATO forces.
CORRUPTION, BRIBES
Endemic corruption in Afghanistan has badly damaged Karzai's relationship with his Western backers, leaving them to question whether they are dealing with a credible partner, another issue that will be considered in Lisbon.
Karzai won a fraud-marred election last year and there still are no final results from September 18 parliamentary elections after thousands of complaints were filed.
The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said it had finished verifying 2,495 complaints that could affect the outcome and would send its findings to election officials so final results could be announced as soon as possible.
Afghan officials have called the election a success despite almost a quarter of the votes cast being thrown out as tainted. Scores of candidates have alleged bribe-taking or fraud by election officials and called for a new poll.
International observers have been more cautious, saying it was remarkable the vote was conducted at a time of war but also noting there had been "considerable fraud."
With no new parliament on the immediate horizon, Karzai's government still has a shaky look and some ministries still are being run by caretakers.
At the same time, there seems little hope of an immediate end to the violence. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said on Monday five of its troops had been killed in a clash with insurgents in the east on Sunday, its worst loss in a single incident in six months.
At least 645 have been killed so far in 2010, by far the deadliest year of the war.
Also on Monday, the Taliban said it had fired rockets at an ISAF base in eastern Kunar province, setting ablaze a huge fuel container. In the north, nine police and militia and eight insurgents were killed in a pitched gunbattle in Kunduz.
(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Sayed Salahuddin, Ian Simpson and Fraidoon Elham in Kabul and by Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Editing by Ron Popeski and Bill Trott)
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Abdullah Criticises Karzai's Recent Comments
Najeeb Hazim Tolo news November 15, 2010
Dr Abdullah Abdullah has criticised president Karzai's recent comments to ban the US forces' night raids in Afghanistan
Leader of the Coalition for Change and Hope, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, criticised Afghan president Hamid Karzai's recent comments about the United States military operations in Afghanistan, especially night raids.
He said that Afghan security forces are not able to take security responsibilities alone.
President Karzai in an interview with the Washington Post on Saturday had said that the US forces must put an end to their night raids and that they must be more careful about the lives of Afghans in carrying out their military operations.
"I don't know if Mr Karzai has got Taliban's guarantee that they will not continue their night raids or Mr Karzai is making these comments without taking into account the realities in Afghanistan," Dr Abdullah told TOLOnews reporter.
"Now is the time to reduce foreign forces' operations. This is the time to reduce the presence of American troops in the public that the daily life of Afghans should not be interrupted," president Karzai was quoted by the Washington Post on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the top US commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus had said on Sunday that the killing and arrest of insurgents was the main purpose of the United States military strategy in Afghanistan.
A US senator said he was astonished about president Karzai's recent comments and cited ending night raids disastrous for Afghanistan.
"We have reports from our commanders about night raids which have a major impact on eradicating Taliban," the US Republican senator, Lindsey Graham said.
Mr Graham said these issues have not been discussed with president Karzai, but he said in a recent meeting with the Afghan president, the US government promised to establish two new permanent military air bases as part of its long-term commitments to Afghanistan.
The leader of the Coalition for Change and Hope, Dr Abdullah Abdullah also criticised president Karzai's comments about presidential elections.
"Mr Karzai has said that Afghanistan's last year's presidential election was stolen by the United States. Anyway, this action has benefited Mr Karzai and today he is leading a government that was shaped as a result of these elections," Mr Abdullah told TOLOnews.
The US president Barack Obama has pledged to begin withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan in July, 2011, although the US administration has said that the drawdown process will be based on the conditions on the ground.
President Karzai has said before that Afghan forces will be ready to take security responsibilities by 2014.
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Afghanistan wants more Taliban off blacklist
By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press – Mon Nov 15, 8:38 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Afghanistan urged the U.N. Security Council on Monday to remove additional members of the Taliban from its sanctions blacklist, a move it has sought to promote a political solution to the nine-year Afghan war.
Afghanistan's U.N. Ambassador Zahir Tanin said the decision to remove 10 Taliban members from the list earlier this year by the council committee monitoring sanctions against the Taliban and al-Qaida "will benefit Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation initiative."
Stressing that reconciliation and reintegration of former combatants with no links to terrorism is "critical for achieving lasting peace and security," Tanin urged the sanctions committee to also give "due consideration" to removing other names submitted by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.
Karzai has been making peace overtures to members of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan for five years before it was driven out in the U.S.-led invasion at the end of 2001. The Taliban have long demanded removal from the sanctions list to help promote reconciliation.
Tanin spoke at an open Security Council meeting after reports from the chairmen of the three council committees focusing on combating terrorism — against al-Qaida and the Taliban, against rebels or terrorists trying to obtain nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, and against those financing, supporting or carrying out terrorist acts.
Tanin called Afghanistan "the number one victim of international terrorism," saying "the enemy we face is part of a complex and sophisticated network with safe havens and sanctuaries in our region from which terrorists still enjoy support."
"Afghanistan remains alarmed at the presence of these support centers, and reiterates that unless they are addressed, the terrorism which has been raging like wildfire will regrettably continue," he warned.
While Tanin didn't name any countries, his remarks were almost certainly directed at neighboring Pakistan, where many Taliban and al-Qaida figures, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding.
Pakistan's acting Ambassador Amjad Hussain Sial urged the international community to promote economic and social development in the region as "a high priority" in order "to arrest and eliminate extremism and terrorism."
He also underlined that countries should take action against terrorism — and "be provided with the resources and ability to do so."
"We should follow procedures but must not get caught up on procedures, processes and reporting requirements which must be secondary to the actual action on the ground that is taken by states."
Noting that a large number of security personnel in Pakistan "have sacrificed their lives in counter-terrorism operations," he called for the international community to provide more modern counter-terrorism equipment including safety vests for police, night vision goggles, wireless interceptors and monitors.
Thomas Mayr-Harting, chairman of the al-Qaida and Taliban sanctions committee, noted growing criticism from governments, individuals and courts over the listing of individuals, organizations and other entities. In July, a new "ombudsperson" began receiving complaints from those who feel they have been wrongly blacklisted.
But Mayr-Harting said he personally believes that the Security Council should impose sanctions for a specific period — which would then require the council to look at the reasons and decide whether a renewal was justified.
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Karzai Stirs 'Concerns' In Washington
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 16, 2010
WASHINGTON -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is again stirring reactions from Congress and the White House.
A U.S. senator has told reporters she has "grave concerns" about Karzai's stated commitment to clean up corruption and about his reliability as a long term U.S. ally.
Democratic Senator Kristen Gilibrand recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan where she and other senators held meetings with Karzai. Gillibrand, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Karzai has taken positions "contrary to America's interests."
Over the weekend, the Afghan leader stunned many in Washington when he called on U.S. forces to carry out fewer nighttime raids and reduce the intensity of military operations in general.
Reacting to those remarks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that tactical revisions have been made in U.S. military maneuvers to "recognize the sensitivity of conducting night operations," but she defended U.S. operations.
"On President Karzai's concerns -- we share these concerns. We've discussed them on a number of occasions," she said. "But we believe that the use of intelligence-driven, precision-targeted operations against high-value insurgents and their networks is a key component of our comprehensive civilian-military operations."
U.S. President Barack Obama is in the process of reviewing U.S. strategy in Afghanistan with an eye toward starting troop withdrawals in 2011.
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NATO-led forces base caught fire in Afghan E Kunar province
ASSADABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A base of NATO-led forces caught fire in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province on Monday, provincial police chief Khalilullah Ziae said.
"One of the bases of NATO-led forces caught fire in Kunar province at 08:30 a.m. local time but the fire has been extinguished," Ziae told Xinhua without giving more details.
Meantime, a local official on the condition of anonymity said that two rockets slammed into a military base outside provincial capital Assadabad.
A Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in talks with media via telephone from undisclosed location said that the insurgents loyal to Taliban outfit attacked NATO-led forces base in Assadabad with heavy weapons and inflicting casualties.
Kunar, a mountainous province bordering Pakistan's lawless tribal area has been the scene of Taliban-linked increasing militancy over the past couple of years.
On the other hand, a military operation launched last Friday in parts of Kunar province, according to officials is still going on to wipe out militants there in Kunar province.
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Canada to send 950 military trainers to Afghanistan
OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada will send up to 950 military trainers to Afghanistan to help Afghan soldiers take over security after its combat troops exit next year, Canadian ministers said Tuesday.
"Since the mission began, Canada, along with our international partners, has helped to train and mentor about 50,000 Afghan troops," said Defense Minister Peter MacKay.
"The post-2011 non-combat training mission will further contribute to the goal of preparing Afghans to assume responsibility for their own security.
"The legacy of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan will endure in a professional Afghan National Security Forces capable of providing a more secure and stable environment for the Afghan people."
Canada currently has 2,800 combat troops in Afghanistan. They are mandated by parliament to return home in 2011 after nine years of routing insurgents as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
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Afghan poll candidate killed during holiday prayers
Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:30am EST By Fraidoon Elham
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A bomb in a graveyard in northern Afghanistan killed a parliamentary candidate and a retired policeman and wounded five, including a mayor, on Tuesday, an intelligence official said.
The attack happened in the Khan Abad district of northern Kunduz province as the men prayed inside the graveyard to mark the start of the Muslim Eid al Adha holiday, provincial intelligence chief Abdul Rahman Aqtash said.
Violence in Afghanistan was already at its worst since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001 but a dramatic increase in attacks in the past few days will be a sobering message for NATO leaders ahead of a summit this week.
Mohammad Islam Mujahid, a candidate from Kunduz in Afghanistan's September parliamentary election, and Haji Bismillah, a retired police official, were killed in the attack, Aqtash said.
Bismillah was the brother of the mayor of Kunduz city.
The mayor, who had been praying with the other men, was wounded along with four civilians, Aqtash said, adding the bomb had been placed near the grave before the men had arrived.
Tuesday marks the first day of Eid al Adha. Afghans traditionally visit the graves of loved ones to offer prayers.
It was not immediately clear whether the attack was carried out by Taliban insurgents or by election rivals.
Once relatively peaceful, northern Afghanistan has seen a spike in violence over the past year as insurgents move out of their strongholds in the south and east. Militants frequently use Kunduz as a springboard to launch attacks in surrounding areas.
The September 18 election for Afghanistan's lower house of parliament went ahead despite insurgent threats to disrupt it, although at least 17 people were killed on the day in poll-related violence.
Four candidates were also killed before polling day.
Final results have still not been announced nearly two months after the election amid serious fraud concerns and calls from hundreds of candidates for the election to be annulled. The election body has already tossed out a quarter of the votes.
The U.N.-backed election watchdog said on Monday it had finished verifying 2,495 complaints that could affect the outcome and would send its findings to election officials so final results could be announced as soon as possible.
With no new parliament on the immediate horizon, President Hamid Karzai's government still has a shaky look and some ministries are still being run by caretakers.
Violence has also spiked ahead of the NATO conference.
On Sunday the NATO-led force said five of its troops were killed in a clash with insurgents in the east, its worst loss in a single incident in six months. At least 645 foreign troops have been killed so far in 2010, by far the deadliest year of the war.
Civilian deaths are also at record levels and Karzai, looking for a way to end the fighting, has included talks with the Taliban as part of a wider reconciliation plan.
During his traditional holiday message on Tuesday, Karzai reiterated an invitation to the militants to take part in a peace process. The Taliban are opposed to talks while there are foreign troops in Afghanistan, a stance their leader repeated on Monday.
(Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Paul Tait and Andrew Marshall)
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Mission beyond 2011 will send 950 soldiers across Afghanistan
Globe and Mail Campbell Clark Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010
The Conservative government will announce on Tuesday that it will send up to 950 troops to Afghanistan next year for a post-2011 training mission, government sources say.
A government official said that all of the soldiers, including trainers and others sent in support roles, will be posted outside of Kandahar province, the tough, war-scarred area in Afghanistan’s south where most Canadian troops are now concentrated.
However, not all will be in the relatively safe capital of Kabul, as some will be posted in other Afghan cities, the source said, without giving the specific locations. NATO has asked allies for army and police trainers in several locations across Afghanistan, including some where Taliban insurgents are more active than in Kabul, such as Mehtar Lam and Jalalabad, an eastern city where six insurgents were killed on Saturday when they tried to attack a coalition base.
Most of Canada’s training mission will be devoted to training soldiers in the Afghan National Army, but none of the troops will be posted in mentoring operations that would require them to accompany Afghan army personnel on combat operations, the sources said. A smaller portion of the Canadian training contingent will work with Afghan police.
Government sources insisted that the training mission will stay within two key restrictions set by Parliament when it voted two years ago to withdraw Canadian combat forces in 2011: none of the soldiers in the post-2011 mission will be in combat, and none will be in Kandahar.
NATO generals said in October that about 900 additional trainers are needed as the Afghanistan National Security Forces – the army and police – increase their numbers to 350,000 in 2013 from about 265,000 now.
The Canadian mission won’t fill the entire gap, as about a quarter of the 950 troops to be sent will play support roles. The government has approved a mission of that number, but how many are actually deployed next year will depend on NATO’s needs, a source said.
The government’s post-2011 plans for Afghanistan, including details of the training mission as well as a development strategy, are to be announced at a news conference on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is preparing to travel to Lisbon for a summit of NATO leaders that opens on Friday, at which leaders are expected to endorse a strategy to hand over the “lead role” in security to Afghan forces in 2014.
But in Ottawa, the post-2011 training mission is still likely to spark controversy.
Although the Liberals have called since June for the government to consider a training mission, the NDP and Bloc Québécois have accused the government of breaking a pledge to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. They have demanded a vote in Parliament – and signalled they do not believe that the sizable contingent of troops will be able to avoid combat completely.
“We think it’s impossible that this will not be done in military operations,” Bloc MP Pierre Paquette said. “For these soldiers, there will necessarily be, let’s say, a risk that they will find themselves in combat zones. So it’s unacceptable.”
The Liberals said the government is improvising a plan under pressure from NATO allies, and spent much of the Monday demanding details, and scoffing at the government’s insistence it was still reviewing the plan.
“How can the government explain this silence, how can it explain its improvisation, how can it explain its secrecy, how can it explain its lack of transparency with the Canadian people?” Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff asked in the Commons. But government officials insist they have communicated the key details of the training mission, including the numbers of troops, to the Liberals.
The NATO summit is intended as a signal to insurgents in Afghanistan that NATO forces will not withdraw from the country next year, despite previous U.S. and British statements that they will start to reduce their troop contingents then.
“From Lisbon on, we will be on a transition strategy with a target date of the end of 2014 for Afghanistan taking over responsibility for leading the security,” Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in Islamabad.
The U.S. Obama Administration and Britain have pressed both Canada and the Netherlands to replace departing combat troops with trainers. Dutch combat troops left in August, and Canadian combat forces are scheduled to leave Kandahar next July.
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Kazakhstan Allows US Air Transit For Supplies To Afghanistan
November 15, 2010
(RTTNews) - An agreement that enables the United States to transport by air its personnel and equipment across Kazakhstan's airspace to support American and coalition forces in Afghanistan has been signed.
The deal signed in Washington by Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro and Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Washington Erlan Idrissov helps the United States and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to further enhance crucial transportation routes.
It also brings down the time needed to move personnel, equipment and supplies in support of coalition forces and the government and people of Afghanistan.
By providing access to new transit routes, Kazakhstan is providing valuable support to international efforts to defeat the violent extremism in Afghanistan and to ensure Afghanistan's and the region's security, the U.S. State Department and Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement.
"Conflict and instability in Afghanistan are threats to the region and the world. Bilateral cooperation, as exemplified concretely by this Air Transit Agreement, helps to counter these negative trends by enabling progress on our common efforts regarding the security, stabilization, and reconstruction of Afghanistan," the statement added.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev had agreed for such a deal when they met in Washington in April.
Under a strategic partnership, the United States began transit flights to Afghanistan across Kazakhstan's airspace in 2001.
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Powell: Obama failed to focus on what's 'most important'
CNN International By the CNN Wire Staff November 16, 2010
While saying he talks regularly with President Obama and his administration's officials, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that the nation's 44th president has overreached and lost focus in his first term -- and lost votes because of it.
Powell, a self-described moderate Republican who served as a top military, national security and diplomatic official under presidents ranging from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, said he did not regret backing the then-Illinois senator over Republican Sen. John McCain during the 2008 election campaign.
But he said that Democrats suffered "a real body blow" in the recent midterm elections -- when the party lost seats in the Senate and control of the House -- in large part because Obama didn't prioritize or communicate effectively enough.
"He should have focused on the economy ... to the exclusion of most everything else domestically," Powell told CNN's Larry King. "When you're starting out as a president, you have to figure out (what) is most important."
Powell said he has been "in regular touch with authorities within the administration and the president," including talking "all the time" about its approach to Afghanistan. He credited Obama for stabilizing the economic system, and "doing a good job in ... a number of directions with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan."
He also offered mixed reviews of former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, calling her a "fascinating individual, ... a political celebrity (and) a political force." Powell said that her positions were "very populist, but they are not very specific as to what she would cut and what she would eliminate."
He challenged Palin and Tea Party-backed politicians to offer precise ideas of what programs to eliminate from the federal government in order to simultaneously lower the federal deficit, freeze spending and cut taxes.
"How do we solve that equation, governor?" said Powell.
Still, for all his political opinions, the retired Army general insisted he had "no interest" in government service -- whether it would be as secretary of defense or, as recently suggested by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, as Obama's White House chief of staff.
"I haven't been asked, and I don't expect to be asked," said Powell, jocularly suggesting that Rendell himself would make "a terrific chief of staff." "I have no interest in government service."
The former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair said he's talked recently with Pakistani Gen. Ashfaq Kayani about the situation in his southwest Asian nation, including the hunt for al Qaeda and fight against pro-Taliban forces. Powell said he thinks Obama's administration understands the importance of supporting Pakistan but that efforts so far have been "inadequate."
As to Pakistan's neighbor, Afghanistan, Powell stressed that it is important to realize that the ultimate goal -- for Afghans as well as Americans -- is to create conditions so that political, military and law enforcement authorities there could take over and U.S. forces can get out.
Powell also said that previous decisions -- including U.S. and allied forces' military approach to Afghanistan in the years right after September 11 -- should be looked back at critically.
"Maybe we should have considered some years ago that the light footprint we had in the early years (to 2003) was not adequate," said Powell, who was secretary of state during that time. "I think we might have been better served by a larger footprint earlier."
Afghanistan was one of many topics Powell touched on from his tenure, between 2001 and 2005, in the State Department under Bush.
In his memoir and again Sunday night on CNN, Bush said he stands by his decision to support the use of waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning -- as an interrogation technique against terror suspects. When its use came up after 9/11, Powell said "all of us felt that waterboarding was, if not over the line, that at least very close to the line."
He said that he understood why Bush authorized waterboarding, but said he himself wouldn't support something he said "could be called now torture."
The then-secretary of state stood by his presentation to the United Nations -- information he insisted that was vetted and approved by the U.S. intelligence community -- in early 2003 suggesting weapons of mass destruction were in Iraq. But he did have disappointment about the talk, which was critical in swaying public opinion in support for the war, in retrospect.
"I regret it now, because the information was wrong," he said.
For all his comments on the past, the 73-year-old former general and statesman said he was optimistic about the future.
"American people still believe in this country," said Powell. "What they're waiting for is for the political leaders in Washington to get on with the solution to problems and not continue to argue with each other. The next year is going to be important."
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Iran, Afghanistan call for all-out economic cooperation
TEHRAN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Afghanistan called for all- out economic cooperation on Monday, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The foreign ministers of both countries made the remarks at a meeting of the Iran and Afghanistan Joint Economic Cooperation Commission.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for expansion of economic cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan in line with the current satisfactory political ties, said IRNA.
Such meeting demonstrates commonalities between the two great nations which have its roots in the will of their high ranking officials, mainly the presidents of Iran and Afghanistan, said Mottaki.
He expressed hope to witness deeply-rooted stability and tranquillity in Afghanistan.
Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasoul, for his part, called for expansion of all-out cooperation between the two countries and termed the current level of bilateral ties as "excellent."
Earlier in the day, at a joint press conference with Rasoul, Mottaki said that the presence of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan has caused insecurity in Afghanistan rather than bringing peace and stability to the country, while Rasoul said military strategy does not suffice for restoration of peace and security to Afghanistan.
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Iran FM says U.S. fails to bring peace, stability to Afghanistan
TEHRAN, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Monday that the United States has failed to fight terrorism and bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.
In a joint press conference with his Afghani counterpart Zalmai Rasoul in Tehran, Mottaki said that the presence of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan has caused insecurity in Afghanistan rather than bringing peace and stability to the country.
He said that the Islamic Republic favors stability for its neighboring state.
Mottaki added that the two countries have agreed to cooperate in diverse areas of culture, higher education, trade, transportation, customs and setting up free economic zones.
The two sides also agreed to use the currencies of both countries for their transactions, he added.
For his part, Zalmai Rasoul said military strategy does not suffice for restoration of peace and security to Afghanistan.
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