Opinion
Obama and the Afghanistan “problem”
One eyewitness described the body of a young boy, apparently wearing red pajamas, lying lifeless in the back of a minibus. That and other searing images, including an AP photographer’s confirmation of burned bodies at the scene, easily eclipsed Friday’s upbeat announcement that the U.S. and Afghanistan had agreed on the transfer of Afghan detainees to Afghan control.
Obama and top U.S. officials quickly condemned the attack and offered their condolences to families of the victims. Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai, both vowing to hold any perpetrators accountable.
Their statements stopped short of a full apology but appeared to want to ward off any retaliatory attacks, like those seen recently after U.S. officials acknowledged the burning of Muslim holy books at an air base in Afghanistan. Six U.S. service members were killed in attacks immediately following that revelation, including two American officers who were assassinated while working inside a heavily protected Afghan ministry.
“This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of (U.S. and coalition troops) or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people,” Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said Sunday. “Nor does it impugn or diminish the spirit of cooperation and partnership we have worked so hard to foster with the Afghan National Security Forces.”
But the damage is probably inevitable. Pulling no punches, Karzai called the shooting an “assassination” and “an intentional killing of innocent civilians” that could not be forgiven.
For their part, U.S. officials pointedly noted that the suspect would be tried under U.S. law, a fine point perhaps made to head off any demands by Karzai that Afghanistan be given custody of the soldier.
The tension could be enough to raise a key question among Obama’s top advisers as they stare down this fall’s bid for re-election: Should Obama press NATO to speed up its scheduled transfer of security responsibility to the Afghan government at the end of 2014?
Panetta has already said he hopes Afghans will assume the lead combat role across the country by mid-2013, with U.S. and other NATO troops remaining in smaller numbers to perform numerous support missions. U.S. and Afghan officials have said they want a strategic partnership agreement signed by the time a NATO summit convenes in Chicago in May.
