By Joshua Partlow and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
KABUL - Gen. David H. Petraeus the coalition military commander in Afghanistan warned Afghan officials Sunday that President Hamid Karzais latest public criticism of U.S. strategy threatens to seriously undermine progress in the war and risks making Petraeuss own position untenable according to Afghan and U.S. officials.
Officials said Petraeus expressed astonishment and disappointment with Karzais call in a Saturday interview with The Washington Post to reduce military operations and end U.S. Special Operations raids in southern Afghanistan that coalition officials said have killed or captured hundreds of Taliban commanders in recent months.
In a meeting Sunday morning with Ashraf Ghani who leads the Afghan governments planning on transition Petraeus made what several officials described as hypothetical references to an inability to continue U.S. operations in the face of Karzais remarks.
The night raids are at the heart of Petraeuss counterinsurgency strategy and are key to his hopes of being able to show significant progress when the White House reviews the situation in Afghanistan next month.
Officials discounted early reports Sunday that Petraeus had threatened to resign. But for Karzai to go this way and at that particular stage is really undermining Petraeuss endeavors one foreign diplomat in Kabul said. Not only his personally but the international community. Several officials in Washington and Kabul requested anonymity in order to discus the issue.
The weekend controversy came days before NATO leaders including President Obama are scheduled to hold a summit in Lisbon that will begin to set a timetable for transition - the process of turning portions of Afghanistan security control over to Afghan forces. The summit which Karzai is to attend will also set 2014 as a deadline for the end of coalition combat operations there and will showcase a long-term NATO-Afghan partnership.
Petraeus never actually threatened resignation but his comments to Ghani reflected his desire to ensure that the Afghans understood the seriousness of the situation a senior NATO military official said.
Weve been subsequently assured that President Karzai is fully supportive of the joint strategy that we share the desire for Afghan forces to take the lead and that weve worked hard together to address all the issues over which Karzai raised concerns and will continue to do so the official said.
Petraeus did not attend a scheduled meeting Sunday with Karzai officials said. Karzais spokesman also cancelled a scheduled news conference. Some Afghan officials Sunday attempted to smooth over the issue by declaring Karzais respect for Petraeus and faith in his strategy.
It is categorically false to interpret Karzais remarks as a vote of no-confidence in Gen. Petraeus one senior Afghan official said. In addition to agreement on ending the coalition combat mission by the end of 2014 he said there are many areas of common interests and common objectives.
These are two men who are comfortable working with each other. Theres an environment of mutual respect and trust has been building among them the official said.
In the Saturday interview Karzai said that the often-troubled U.S.-Afghan dynamic had improved since Petraeuss arrival in the summer and that the two countries have a more mature relationship. But he also outlined a vision for the U.S. military presence here that sharply conflicts with the Obama administrations strategy.
In addition to ending night raids Karzai said that he wants U.S. troops to be less intrusive in the lives of Afghans and that they should strive to stay in their bases and conduct just the necessary activities along the Pakistan border.
I think its Karzais directness that really sticks in the craw another NATO official said. He is standing 180 degrees to what is a central tenet of our current campaign plan.
Its pretty clear that you no longer have a reliable partner in Kabul the official added. I think we tried to paper it over with Karzais Washington visit in May. But the wheels have becoming looser and looser . . . since that.
The latest rift follows a string of public disputes between Karzai and the West in recent months. They clashed on corruption issues last summer after Karzai freed an aide from jail who was accused of soliciting a bribe and moved to stem the activities of U.S.-backed anti-corruption investigations.
This fall Karzais push to disband private security companies that protect foreign assistance projects was seen as putting at risk billions in development aid. His public comments often bluntly criticizing the West for meddling or worsening the war by harming civilians have made it difficult for the nations to deliver a common message.
In Washington officials described Karzais remarks as nothing out of the ordinary and said he had expressed similar views to Petraeus and other officials in private.
While we certainly didnt expect the list that he laid out a senior administration official said the fact that those were concerns to him was not a surprise to us.
The official added: Obviously President Karzai has expressed some frustration recently. Weve been working very hard to deal with those frustrations. Its challenging. Thats no secret. The administration he said shared some of Karzais concerns and was trying to work with him to address them.
At the Lisbon summit NATO plans to declare that progress in the war will enable transition to Afghan security control beginning in the spring. Petraeus is to decide which provinces and districts are stable enough to turn over to Afghan national security forces with coalition troops remaining in an overwatch capacity as they head toward complete combat withdrawal by the end of 2014.
Coalition officials hope that the formal start of the transition process will allow Karzai to assert that his concerns about a reduced foreign military footprint are being addressed. Areas slated for transition will be cleared with the Afghan government and Karzai will announce them in coming months.
We are making sure that he is the person who is out front the senior administration official said.
NATO has emphasized that transition decisions are separate from decisions made by individual coalition members about withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan altogether. Obama has pledged to begin bringing U.S. troops now totaling about 100000 home from Afghanistan in July although the administration has said the size and pace of the drawdown will be determined by conditions on the ground.
Many coalition officials said they have grown accustomed to Karzais provocative statements and think that they are intended primarily for an Afghan audience. But others worry that such comments will erode NATOs resolve to stay in Afghanistan already challenged by declining public approval of the war in member nations.
It undermines the support and trust of the Western countries one foreign diplomat in Kabul said. Thats what the NATO summit should be all about. Are we on the same page? Or are we in different worlds?
