Karzai is at the End of Whose Rope?

From today's The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai chastised the United States on Friday, saying he was at “the end of the rope” over what he termed America’s lack of cooperation in investigating the American soldier who went on a rampage earlier this month and killed 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan.

Mr. Karzai had previously dispatched a delegation to investigate the killings in Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, and he said on Friday that American officials did not cooperate with the Afghan inquiry. He made the comments after meeting at the presidential palace in Kabul with relatives of those killed.

The Afghan leader also questioned whether only a single American soldier was involved in the massacre, which took place on March 11. He said the accounts of villagers — many of whom have claimed multiple soldiers took part in the shootings — did not match the American assertion that the killings were the work of a lone, rogue soldier.

The Afghan leader’s comments were likely to intensify the sense of crisis that has begun to permeate the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan in recent weeks. The two allies look increasingly at odds over basic elements of the strategy to fight the Taliban , and widespread Afghan resentment at the presence of foreign troops appears to be intensifying amid a series of American missteps — from Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters to soldiers burning Korans.

The killings in Panjwai have left both sides grasping for a way to stabilize the deteriorating relationship. President Obama and other senior American officials have repeatedly apologized, but the expressions of regret have done little to placate angry Afghans, including Mr. Karzai.

On Thursday, Mr. Karzai demanded that the United States confine its troops to major bases by next year in a apparent bid to accelerate the end of NATO’s combat role in Afghanistan. But the move would effectively reverse two main elements of the American strategy: getting its forces out into the villages to better combat the Taliban’s influence, and having them train Afghan soldiers by living and operating alongside them throughout the country.

Then came Mr. Karzai’s comments Friday about the Panjwai killings. “This has been going on for too long,” he said. “This is by all means the end of the rope here.”