Karzai lashes out at U.S. counterterrorism strategy

Event Notice: Please join the New America Foundation’s National Security Studies Program TODAY from 12:15-1:45 PM for a conversation with Daniel Klaidman about his new book, Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency (NAF).

Angry outburst

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Afghan president Hamid Karzai accused the United States of playing a "double game" by refusing to take the fight against militancy to "where terrorism is financed and manufactured," Pakistan (NYT, Reuters, Post, AP). Karzai also voiced his frustration at NATO for failing to provide Afghanistan with the sophisticated weaponry needed to defeat the Taliban insurgency, and reiterated his intention to step down as president in 2014 as mandated by the Afghan Constitution.

He insisted that Afghanistan still wants to move forward with establishing a strategic partnership agreement with Pakistan, but that the Pakistani government must first "stop terrorists [and] suicide bombers [from] crossing into Afghanistan" (AFP).

Meanwhile, the Afghan deputy foreign minister Jawed Ludin claimed on Thursday that the majority of the "insider attacks" by Afghan security forces on NATO service members are due to "Taliban infiltration in the [Afghan Army] ranks," rather than to cultural and personal disagreements as NATO officials contend (CNN).

No stopping us

Pakistani politician Imran Khan vowed Thursday to go ahead with his planned march to protest U.S. drone strikes in South Waziristan this weekend, despite the dangerous security conditions in Pakistan’s tribal northwest and doubts about whether the authorities or the Pakistani Taliban would allow it (AFP). The Pakistani Taliban on Friday denied recent news reports that the group would provide security to Imran Khan during the march, saying they would never make that effort for "a liberal, secular person" who is just trying to "increase his political height" (ET).

A group of about 35 American anti-war activists from the group Code Pink will take part in a demonstration against drone strikes in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday, as a form of apology "to the people of Pakistan for the killing and suffering" cause by drones, according to one of the group’s co-founders Madea Benjamin (CNN).

From pop to politics

One of Pakistan’s most popular singers, Shehzad Roy, has left behind sweet love songs for hard-hitting criticisms of the Pakistani government’s failure to provide sanitation, clean water, and electricity to the public (NPR). Roy’s musical shift came after a personal revelation he had when he started doing work in some of Karachi’s worst schools, one of which he soon took over from the federal government, cleaned up, installed computers, and hired trained teachers.

— Jennifer Rowland