Hagel meets Karzai after security threats
12 March 2013 5:32 AM IST
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel encountered political tension with the Afghan president and a series of security problems during his first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, but he met privately with President Hamid Karzai and says they discussed the key issues.
Hagel says he understands that Karzai faces political pressures as the war winds down.
‘I think he understands where we are and where we've been, and hopefully where we're going together,’ Hagel told reporters, but he declined to detail their talks.
Hagel is disputing Karzai’s accusations that the US and the Taliban are working in concert to show that violence in the country will worsen if most coalition troops leave.
The top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen Joseph Dunford, also rejected the charges Karzai made Sunday as ‘categorically false.’
Speaking to reporters soon after Karzai made the comments, Dunford said the Afghan leader has never expressed such views to him but said it was understandable that tensions would arise as the coalition balances the need to complete its mission with the Afghans’ move to exercise more sovereignty.
‘We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage,’ said Dunford.
Hagel says he understands that Karzai faces political pressures as the war winds down.
‘I think he understands where we are and where we've been, and hopefully where we're going together,’ Hagel told reporters, but he declined to detail their talks.
Hagel is disputing Karzai’s accusations that the US and the Taliban are working in concert to show that violence in the country will worsen if most coalition troops leave.
The top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen Joseph Dunford, also rejected the charges Karzai made Sunday as ‘categorically false.’
Speaking to reporters soon after Karzai made the comments, Dunford said the Afghan leader has never expressed such views to him but said it was understandable that tensions would arise as the coalition balances the need to complete its mission with the Afghans’ move to exercise more sovereignty.
‘We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage,’ said Dunford.
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