Afghan President Promises He Won't Seek Third Term

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai won't run in 2014. Actually, he can't. The flamboyant and often inscrutable leader is barred by his constitution from seeking a third term.

Karzai asserted that there is "no circumstance that will allow me to stay as president" when asked whether he'll try to get around term limits while on a visit to India Wednesday.

According to the Afghan president, he's actually ready for retirement after eight grueling years. But even more importantly, Karzai asked rhetorically, "Why would I ruin my legacy by staying on and taking an opportunity away from Afghanistan to become an institutionalized democracy?"

Despite his sometimes puzzling statements about U.S.-Afghan relations, Karzai is a known commodity to the West unlike other potential candidates.

The national elections are set for next April just as U.S. and NATO allies prepare to withdraw most of their military forces from Afghanistan. Washington and Kabul are still trying to hammer out a post-war agreement about what the U.S. role will be in Afghanistan after 2014.

As for how the country will manage without coalition forces to repel foreign and domestic militants, Karzai seemed unperturbed, predicting that Afghanistan is much different from Iraq because there are no sectarian tensions to deal with.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Five NATO Soldiers Killed in Southern Afghanistan

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Five NATO troops were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

The troops, members of the International Security Assistance Force, were killed by an improvised explosive device, according to a statement released by ISAF. NATO officials would not confirm the location of the explosion or the nationality of the troops who were killed.

Many of the troops in southern Afghanistan are British or American.

According to BBC News, the deaths bring to total number of coalition troops killed in 2013 to 47, including 37 Americans.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

US Diplomat Killed in Afghanistan 'Loved the Work She Was Doing'

ABC News(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- The friends and family of Anne Smedinghoff are mourning the 25-year-old Foreign Service Officer killed in a car bomb blast in southern Afghanistan whom they describe as vivacious and loving.

Smedinghoff was one of five Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Qalat, Zabul.

Working as a press officer for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, she was helping Afghan journalists cover an event at a boys school where the local U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team was to donate math and science books.

The other Americans killed in the attack were three military service members and a civilian working for the Defense Department. Four State Department officials, including one described as critically injured, were among the 10 injured in the attack.

"The world lost a truly beautiful soul," Tom and Mary Beth Smedinghoff said in a statement. "Anne absolutely loved the work she was doing" as a press officer at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, they said.
Having served in the Foreign Service for only three years, Smedinghoff volunteered to serve in Afghanistan and arrived last July.

"We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world," her parents said. "She was such a wonderful woman -- strong, intelligent, independent, and loving. Annie, you left us too soon; we love you and we're going to miss you so much."

Traveling in Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry described Smedinghoff's death as the "stealing of a young life."

"There are no words for anybody to describe the extraordinary harsh contradiction of a young 25-year-old woman with all of the future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy, of changing people's lives, of making a difference, having an impact, who was taking knowledge in books to deliver them to a school. And someone somehow persuaded that taking her -- his life was a wiser course and somehow constructive, drives into their vehicle and we lose five lives," Kerry said.

Kerry had met Smedinghoff two weeks ago during his recent trip to Afghanistan, where she had been assigned to coordinate his trip.

"I remember her as vivacious, smart, capable, often chosen by the ambassador for her capabilities," Kerry said. He said of his call to Smedinghoff's parents on Saturday that "there is no harder conversation to have in the world."

Afghan security officials told ABC News that the State Department convoy had just left its headquarters in Qalat and joined the convoy of the local provincial governor who was also headed to the school book giveaway.

That's when two suicide attackers attacked the convoy. The security officials said there was an initial car bomb detonated by a remote device. Then a suicide bomber wearing a suicide vest appeared and caused more casualties.

Afghan sources say the school event had been announced a day in advance, which possibly allowed attackers enough time to plan the attack.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Six Americans Killed in Attacks in Afghanistan

iStockphoto(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) -- A suicide bomber killed five Americans and an Afghan doctor while wounding several others on Saturday while another American was killed in a separate incident in another part of the country.

In southeastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives while the convoy carrying the Americans passed by another convoy carrying a provincial governor. It’s unclear at this time which convoy the bomber was targeting.

The blast killed three U.S. troops, two American civilians, and the Afghan doctor. A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said that several other Americans and Afghans were wounded in the attack.

An American civilian was also killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan.

The attacks occurred as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff arrived to assess ways the U.S. can continue to province training once coalition forces leave.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

U.S. and Afghanistan Reach Agreement on Control of Bagram Prison

Kevin Horan/Stone(WASHINGTON) -- After negotiations and delays, the International Security Assistance Force has turned control of Bagram detention facility to the Afghan government.

The prison was a main topic of conversation when Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel traveled to Afghanistan earlier this month. Previous attempts to hand over the detention facility were delayed by concerns that Afghan officials would release high-risk detainees.

According to the New York Times, Bagram was the only remaining American prison for long-term detention in Afghanistan, and the agreement to turn over control is a key to widning down the war in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon spokesman told the Times that, "the transfer will be carried out in a way that ensures the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

ISAF Troops Warned of New Threats After Karzai's Remarks

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Coalition troops in Afghanistan have been put on higher alert, thanks to recent remarks made by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

In a command threat advisory sent on Wednesday and obtained by The New York Times, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, warned troops of the potential of more insider attacks.

"[Karzai's] remarks could be a catalyst for some to lash out against our forces — he may also issue orders that put our forces at risk," the advisory read.

The warning comes as Karzai accused both the United States and the Taliban of creating instability in Afghanistan, a charge quickly rejected by U.S. officials.

On Thursday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) responded to the advisory: "ISAF routinely conducts assessments and adapts its protection posture to ensure our forces are prepared to meet potential threats and that they have a common understanding of the situation here in Afghanistan.  This advisory was prudent given increased Coalition causalities in recent days.  General Dunford's e-mail is simply an example of this vigilance."

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

GOP Lawmaker Recommends Huge Post-War Force in Afghanistan

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Dexter S. Saulisbury/Released(WASHINGTON) -- The Obama administration is still considering how many American troops will remain in Afghanistan when the coalition pulls out the majority of forces next year.

While that's going on, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon has an exact number in mind: 13,600, about a fifth of the U.S. soldiers currently deployed in Afghanistan.

Following a fact-finding mission overseas, the California Republican says his figure is in line with what Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, the outgoing head of the U.S. Central Command in the region, is recommending.

McKeon contends 13,600, which is probably much higher than the White House is considering, "has the least danger of failure and puts our troops in the least jeopardy."

As the administration hammers out a status of forces agreement with Kabul, McKeon wants the president to announce how many troops he wants to leave behind in Afghanistan well before the 2014 pullout.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan Kills Five Americans

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Monday turned out to be the deadliest day of the year for U.S. forces in Afghanistan as officials said that a helicopter crash outside of Kandahar killed five Americans on board.

NATO claimed the Black Hawk went down in an area where there was no enemy activity reported.

It was the deadliest aircraft crash involving U.S. forces since last August when seven Americans died after their helicopter was hit during a firefight with militants.

Earlier Monday, two U.S. Special Forces members were gunned down in an "insider attack" in Wardak province, bringing the day's death toll to seven.

The fatalities occurred after more than a month of no U.S. casualties in Afghanistan.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Two US Troops, Three Afghan Cops Killed in Apparent 'Insider' Attack

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Dexter S. Saulisbury/Released(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- Two U.S. troops are dead after an apparent "insider" attack in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.

According to officials, a gunman wearing an Afghan police uniform opened fire at a police training facility in Wardak province, killing the American soldiers and three Afghan police officers.  The International Security Assistance Force says “several others” were also wounded.

A joint U.S.-Afghan team is investigating the shooting.

The attack comes on the heels of Afghan President Hamid Karzai accusing the U.S. of wanting instability in Afghanistan simply to prove that more American troops need to stay beyond 2014. 

Those accusations were categorically rejected by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Tense Times for Afghanistan and the United States

Jason Reed-Pool/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) -- In what appears to be the latest sign of a deteriorating relationship between two allies, a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the Afghan capital of Kabul was canceled on Sunday due to “security concerns.”

The two met privately, and Pentagon press secretary George Little denied the cancellation was because of remarks made earlier by Karzai suggesting that the Taliban and the U.S. were in cahoots.

At an earlier news conference, Karzai suggested that the U.S. government and the Taliban, while using different means, were working in concert to keep Afghanistan unstable and convince Afghans that violence will get worse when foreign troops leave as scheduled at the end of next year.

Karzai described pessimistic reports about his country’s future after NATO troops leave in 2014 as propaganda promoted via the Western news media with the intention of undermining Afghan confidence in their country and his government.

“There is a lot of negative propaganda about what will happen after 2014,” Karzai said, adding that it is being forecast as a disaster film and thought of as “the 2014 movie.”

Karzai also accused the United States of sending different signals about its view of the Taliban.  The Afghan leader says the U.S., on one hand, claims the Taliban is the enemy, but then it engages the group in negotiations. 

The United States is not presently talking with the Taliban, but it has in the past.  Karzai claims many Afghans are confused about the U.S. government’s true intent.

The Afghan leader then said, “On the one hand the Taliban are talking with the Americans, but on the other hand, they carry out a bombing in Kabul,” a reference to a suicide bombing on Saturday outside the Afghan defense ministry.

Karzai continued, “Yesterday’s bombing in Kabul [and another in the city of Khost] didn’t aim to show Taliban’s strength; indeed they serve America.  By those bombings they served the 2014 negative slogan.  These bombings aimed to prolong the presence of the American forces in Afghanistan.”

Asked about his private meeting with Karzai, Hagel told reporters the two had “a very direct conversation.” 

Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, continued, “I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people.  And I was once a politician.  So I can understand the kind of pressures -- especially leaders of countries -- are always under.”

Hagel said he had confidence that the United States and Afghanistan “could move forward” and “deal with these issues.”

In comments to reporters before Karzai’s private meeting with Hagel, America’s new top commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Joseph Dunford, insisted that the two countries still get along. 

“We do not have a broken relationship,” Dunford declared.

Dunford, however, strongly disagreed with Karzai’s claims that the U.S. wants instability in Afghanistan.

“We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the past 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage,” Dunford told reporters.

Afghan observers note that Karzai’s outburst on Sunday came in the wake of the cancellation of an agreement in which the U.S. had promised to hand over control of Bagram Prison to Afghanistan.

Atiqullah Amarkhel, a former Afghan Army general and a military analyst, told The New York Times that Karzai’s “prestige as president was degraded in the eyes of the public by the Americans’ refusal to hand over responsibility of the prison to the Afghans.”

“I think it drives him crazy when he sees it’s not happening,” Amarkhel said, adding, “It also shows a deep sense of distrust between two one-time allies. To the public, it means all the power is with foreigners.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio