The U.S. feels a need to repair relations with the Afghans, and offers this gesture of good will in that spirit. No one seems to think that the Afghans have to repair relations with the U.S. after the wanton murder of American troops by Afghans they were trying to train, and the murder of innocents in the recent Qur’an Rage riots.
Despite that double standard, however, this is good news. We should, in fact, end this fool’s errand, turn over control of everything in Afghanistan to the Afghans, and bring our troops home. No amount of American blood and treasure is ever going to transform Afghanistan into Arkansas. Afghan society will forever be rent by tribalism and the violence inherent in Sharia.
“U.S. to Hand Over Afghan Prisons, Including Jail Where Korans Were Burned,” by Muhammad Lila for ABC News, March 9:
The U.S. and Afghanistan took a major step forward, signing an agreement that will transfer control of all the country’s detention facilities — including the prison where U.S. troops burned Korans last month — to Afghan security forces within six months.
The deal, signed in Kabul by Gen. John Allen, head of the International Security Force in Afghanistan, and the country’s Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak calls for the first batch of 500 detainees to be transferred to Afghan authority within 45 days. There are just over 3,000 Afghan detainees in American-run detention facilities throughout the country.
The handover of the prison facilities is an effort to rebuild an increasingly strained relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan.
“This MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) illustrates our commitment to Afghan sovereignty,” said U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.
The control of detention facilities has been a contentious issue, straining U.S.-Afghan ties in recent months. Many Afghans consider it a question of national sovereignty. In a still largely tribal and traditional society, placing Afghans — criminals or otherwise — under foreign authority is seen as particularly humiliating.
Those anti-American feelings erupted two weeks ago, after U.S. troops burned copies of the Koran at a U.S.-run detention center near Kabul. US officials from Gen. Allen to President Obama apologized for the incident. Officials insisted it was done unintentionally and ordered a military investigation.
Still, deadly riots erupted across the country, leaving dozens of Afghans dead in the bloody aftermath. Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the country’s powerful Ulema Council demanded the U.S. speed up its plans to transfer control of the country’s prisons, saying the incident could have been avoided if Afghans were in charge.
A carefully worded statement from ISAF today singled out the Parwan detention facility, where the Koran burning took place, saying it would be transferred to Afghan security forces as soon as an Afghan commander is appointed. Karzai had set a deadline of today for control of the prison to be handed over.
“It is yet another example of the progress of transition,” Allen said in the statement, “and our efforts to ensure Afghanistan can never again be a safe haven for terrorists.”…
Is this clown serious? What does he think Afghanistan is now?