Afghans want bigger role in Taliban fight

[unhappycamper]

Afghans want bigger role in Taliban fight
By Kathy Gannon - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 21, 2009 11:47:13 EST

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan government wants America to review its military strategy in Afghanistan and for Afghan troops to take over a larger share of military operations, the president’s spokesman said Wednesday.

Humayun Hamidzada said President Hamid Karzai wants the war on terrorism taken to “its sanctuaries,” code for militant safe havens in Pakistan. He said Afghanistan needs to be more involved in the planning and execution of the war.

“The president has said there is a need to review our relationship and the way we move forward, and we need to make sure that Afghans, particularly on the issue of searches and arrest, are in the forefront,” Hamidzada told The Associated Press during an interview at the heavily fortified presidential palace.

“We have to make sure that in the villages we don’t burst into people’s houses, we don’t arrest people arbitrarily and we don’t act on intelligence that is not verifiable,” he said.

Karzai has already sent NATO headquarters a draft agreement that would give the Afghan government more say in future NATO deployments and would outlaw NATO troops from searching Afghan homes, according to a copy obtained by the AP.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_afghanistan_012109/%2e