SOFA in Afghanistan?

[MSG Proctor]

David, I read that interview last night and was impressed by the intimations that there might actually be a SOFA and a continued international presence in Afghanistan. Not sure how much of a power broker he will be after elections in 2014 or how the elections will affect the need for a SOFA, but my takeaway is that Karzai seems committed that ISAF is a good garauntor of security for the short term, maybe even longer.

[davidbfpo]

A WaPo article on how large the US presence maybe. Nothing startling and no mention of a SOFA. Opens with:

The Pentagon is pushing a plan that would keep about 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan once the NATO military mission there ends in 2014 but significantly shrink the contingent over the following two years

Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...adb_story.html

[davidbfpo]

Not sure whether this decision by GIRoA is unprecedented, but it does indicate achieving a SOFA maybe difficult:

The Afghan president has ordered US special forces to leave Wardak province within two weeks. The decision was being taken due to allegations of disappearances and torture by Afghans considered to be part of US special forces, said a spokesman for Hamid Karzai.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21566295 and a longer NYT article:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/wo...pagewanted=all

[Madhu]

....doesn't think there will be a SOFA.

Some naif here in the US probably still believes that Karzai's government will give the US legal immunity. Wanna bet?

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_s...65802html.html

[davidbfpo]

The AAN dissects what happened in Wardak Province:http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index...er_share=6dc9b

Elsewhere I read the majority group in Wardak are Hazara and it is the Pashtun minority who are the victims. Alas I cannot recall where I read this, maybe I'm dreaming! Nothing is ever simple.

[davidbfpo]

If you can’t beat them, cheat them. And that is what the Taliban is currently doing to make sure special operations forces aren’t impeding their significantly important operations in Wardak. With the majority of NATO forces on the verge of being pulled out of Afghanistan, the only obstacle remaining will be special operations forces that are poised to remain in the country even after most U.S. forces return home.

This is the conclusion reached by:http://sofrep.com/17610/sof-running-amok-in-wardak/

That sofa is getting very uncomfortable, maybe even unlikely.

[davidbfpo]

The LAT, with reporting in Washington and Wardak:

The story was gruesome: A university student, captured in a U.S. special forces raid, was found decapitated and with his fingers sliced off. Amid a groundswell of public anger, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office cited that incident, as well as reports that nine villagers had been abducted from their homes, when he decided last week to bar the elite U.S. troops from a volatile province at the doorstep of Kabul, a move that could one day put the capital at risk. But the account of the young man's death was wrong, U.S. and local Afghan officials say. He was snared by armed men, not U.S. forces or their Afghan allies, according to Afghan law enforcement officials. In police photos of the body, he has one finger chopped off and a gash on one side of his neck, but he wasn't beheaded.

Link:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5647636.story