Karzai rejects criticism over opium trade

Abuse of prisoners ‘not acceptable’
As for the abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan, Karzai said, “This is simply not acceptable. We are angry about this. We want justice. We want the people responsible for this sort of brutal behavior punished and tried and made public.”

The U.S. military has said it would not tolerate any incidents of abuse.

The newspaper’s account of the prisoner’s mistreatment were backed by New York-based Human Rights Watch, a watchdog group, which said that at least six prisoners in U.S. custody in Afghanistan have been killed since 2002.

Hundred of people were arrested during and after the campaign by U.S.-led forces to oust the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.

Karzai spoke of the successful partnership with the U.S. that helped drive the Taliban from Afghanistan.

Seeks restriction on U.S. military
“Now, we are in a different phase of this struggle. The Afghan people have gone to elections, they have a constitution, they have elected a government. ... The Afghan people now feel that they own that country,” Karzai said.

As a result, he wants some restrictions on how the U.S. military operates in his country.

“Operations that involve going to people’s homes, that involves knocking on people’s doors, must stop, must not be done without the permission of the Afghan government,” Karzai said.

On the status of Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, still a fugitive, Karzai said, “We know that for sure he’s not in Afghanistan, yes. If he were there, we would catch him.”

Karzai — seen by his critics as an American puppet — issued the tough statements on the U.S. military after fresh reports of prisoner abuse by American forces at Bagram, the main military prison north of Kabul, and anti-U.S. riots that broke out across the country earlier this month, leaving at least 15 people dead.

Newsweek report
The unrest was triggered by a Newsweek magazine report, later retracted, that the Quran was defiled by interrogators at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and likely further fueled by long-standing complaints of heavy-handed search operations and the deaths of civilians in U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

There were fears a report in Friday’s New York Times, based on the Army’s criminal investigation into the December 2002 deaths of two Afghans at Bagram, could re-ignite anti-American manifestations.

Karzai said he was “shocked” by allegations of prisoner abuse by poorly trained U.S. soldiers at Bagram and vowed to raise the issue during his four-day U.S. visit. “We want the U.S. government to take very, very strong action to take away people like that (who) are working with their forces in Afghanistan,” Karzai said. “Definitely ... I will see about that when I am in the United States.”

Later Sunday, in a speech to Boston University graduates, Karzai sounded an optimistic note about his country. “After decades of stagnation, our civil society is once again vibrant, our economy is growing fast, and we are becoming a hub of trade in the region,” he said.

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