Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

by Miles Wolf Tamboli
Talk Radio News Service

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday and Wednesday, Senators expressed their anxiety that some, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai, may have lost their faith in America's ability to win the war in Afghanistan.

"It's very troubling that President Karzai has decided to remove his Minister of Interior and his Head of Intelligence, two of our most important partners in his government, and two men I know to be upstanding and effective," said Senator John McCain (R-AZ), referring to the Afghan President's sudden and unexplained removal of Hanif Atmar and Amrullah Saleh.

Karzai recently announced his plan for reconciliation and reintegration in Afghanistan and it has raised some concern for American lawmakers. The plan outlines the reintegration of "lower-level insurgents who renounce violence and disassociate themselves from terrorists" into Afghan society, according to Defense Undersecretary for Policy Michele Flournoy.

McCain said that concern is growing in Congress with rumors circling about Karzai's loss of faith in the U.S. military and his disbelief that America can actually win the war in Afghanistan.

"President Karzai no longer believes the United States will succeed, and he is shifting his resolve to a policy of accommodation with the Taliban," McCain said. "If true, this could be very dangerous."

Petraeus, who testified at the hearing, reassured that the allegations being made are a "characterization from some second or third-hand sources," and repeatedly emphasized that these allegations do not correlate with what Karzai told him in their own personal conversations.