The US and Afghanistan signed a deal on Sunday that gives Afghans authority over raids of Afghan homes, resolving one of the most contentious issues between the two allies.
The majority of these raids are nighttime operations in which US and Afghan troops descend without warning on homes or residential compounds searching for insurgents.
The raids are widely resented by Afghans, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called for a halt to all night raids by international forces.
He said for months that they must stop before he would sign a much-anticipated pact governing the long-term US presence in Afghanistan.
Both countries have said that they wanted that deal signed before the NATO summit in May, so the night raids agreement announced on Sunday makes hitting that deadline possible.
Karzai has argued that night raids by international troops make civilian casualties more likely and that US soldiers are disrespectful in the way they conduct the operations.
The US military has said such operations are essential for intelligence gathering and for capturing Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders.
The deal on Sunday appeared to be a compromise: A panel of Afghan security officials get the authority to decide what raids will take place, but US forces will still play a large part in operations, including entering Afghan homes if needed.
The US also now has an Afghan partner that will be held equally accountable if there are civilian casualties or allegations of mistreatment.
The resolution of this dispute is a key step toward finalizing the long-term “strategic partnership” to govern US forces in Afghanistan after the majority of combat forces leave in 2014. The long-term pact is seen as important for assuring the Afghan people that they will not be abandoned by their international allies.
The memorandum was signed in front of reporters by Afghan Minister of Defense General Abdul Rahim Wardak and US Commander General John Allen.
“This is a landmark day in [the] rule of law,” Allen told reporters.
Afghans are now “in the lead on two of the most important issues: capturing the terrorists and ensuring they remain behind bars,” he said.
Washington said that the -foreigner-dominated raids that Karzai so frequently condemns are already a rarity. More than 97 percent of night operations are combined operations involving Afghan forces and almost 40 percent of night operations are now Afghan-led.
According to the document, all “special operations” will have to be reviewed and approved by a panel from the Afghan military, government and intelligence services. The definition of a “special operation” is left vague, but appears to apply to night raids as well as other operations that involve going into Afghan homes.
Since the document only governs certain types of raids, it leaves open the possibility of other types of unilateral US operations that do not involve going into homes. US officials declined to comment on whether there were US operations that did not fall under this agreement. For example, the CIA conducts operations in Afghanistan outside of the military’s purview, and it is not clear whether they would be affected.
Any disagreements would be resolved by a joint US-Afghan committee including the Afghan defense minister and the US forces commander, the agreement said. It did not indicate how this committee would make decisions.
The agreement says Afghan forces will conduct home searches and that US forces will be allowed to enter private compounds “only as required or requested.”
The US appears to have given in on a bid to take temporary custody of detainees, presumably for interrogation purposes, according to officials familiar with the talks. The agreement as signed says that the Afghan government will immediately take custody of detainees. The US will only interrogate them if asked by the Afghans, according to a US military official involved in the negotiations.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of