SOFA in Afghanistan?

**davidbfpo** · 03-07-2013

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

**Madhu** · 03-08-2013

“The communication gap between Quetta and Qatar has been removed,” says a former senior Taliban minister. “Now the Taliban can confidently set up an office and keep in touch with and receive instructions from the shura.” Pakistan, which at first was lukewarm about the Taliban’s Qatar office and the peace talks there, is now cautiously supportive and is issuing visas and travel documents to the Taliban officials visiting Qatar."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...acemakers.html

On Wednesday John Kerry will cross the finish line of his first listening tour as Secretary of State. His last stop is Doha, Qatar, a small gulf state with a big problem.

In international politics Qatar is playing a leading role in regional peace and stability. From brokering peace talks for warring Sudanese factions, bailing out Egypt with loans and attempting to mediate the Syrian conflict, this is a nation with grand ambitions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharan...b_2805896.html

I believe there are several other monetary and balance of payment crises in the various regions of interest.

**davidbfpo** · 05-16-2013

An attempt to present clues on what is going on in Kabul over a SOFA:http://www.natowatch.org/node/952

**davidbfpo** · 07-02-2013

From FP:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called off all talks with the U.S. on the status of U.S. forces there after 2014 until the Taliban agree to meet with him.

That is finesse Afghan-style and makes any planning fraught.

**davidbfpo** · 07-08-2013

From a short NYT report:

Afghan officials confirmed Sunday that they had arrested and were questioning Zakaria Kandahari, whom they have described as an Afghan-American interpreter responsible for torturing and killing civilians while working for an American Special Forces unit.

The bodies of 10 victims were found near the Special Forces base beginning in April, after the Americans left; the last was discovered on June 4, according to Afghan forensic investigators and relatives of the victims. They had disappeared between November and February.

Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/08/wo..._20130708&_r=0

I assume being in the "care" of the NDS, in a suspected torture facility, will mean a full admission will be forthcoming.

**Madhu** · 07-10-2013

The latest source of Obama-Karzai friction: New U.S. peace talks with the Taliban.

Administration officials have discussed the possibility of the so-called "zero option" in Afghanistan throughout the year.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theova...roops/2501165/

Pat Lang on the SOFA:

Karzai is not running for another term. He will leave office on a date that roughly coincides with the end of NATOs mandate in his country and Obama's stated intention to withdraw. Karzai clearly holds the US and its "leadership" in amused contampt.

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_s...08287html.html

I'm afraid I've "lost the plot" a bit.