Dobbins: Karzai ‘playing with fire’ on Afghan postwar talks

Washington’s top diplomat in Afghanistan told Congress that President Hamid Karzai is playing a dangerous game in stonewalling a postwar pact, reiterating the Obama administration remains willing to pull all forces out of the country next year. 

In ongoing negotiations with State Department and Pentagon officials, the Afghan leader continues to express “complete disinterest” in what size a possible U.S. postwar force would be, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador James Dobbins told lawmakers on Tuesday. 

{mosads}That disinterest, according to Dobbins, is part of a power play by the Karzai government to set the terms of the postwar deal, driven by the belief the United States cannot afford a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

But Karzai “is playing with fire” should the the defiant Afghan president attempt to call Washington’s bluff on a complete pull out, known inside the White House as the “zero option,” Dobbins told members of the Senate Foreign Relations panel. 

During the hearing, committee chief Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) pressed Dobbins on whether after 12 years of war, the United States had hit a “breaking point” in Afghanistan where a zero option would make sense. 

“Is there a point where walking away” from Afghanistan would be better than pushing for a postwar deal, “I personally do not think so,” Dobbins told Menendez. 

Members of Afghanistan’s loya jirga, a collection of the country’s 2,500 most powerful tribal leaders, overwhelmingly approved the postwar plan earlier this month. 

But a slew of last-minute demands by Karzai, including plans to restart Taliban peace talks and banning members of a U.S. postwar force from entering Afghan homes, has Obama weighing a zero option for Afghanistan. 

On Tuesday, Dobbins reiterated that Washington has already agreed to “respect the sanctity” of Afghan homes, but noted American forces will not give up the right to go into those homes as part of counterterrorism operations. 

Regarding Taliban peace talks, Dobbins told the Senate panel that Karzai’s attempt to get the terror group to the negotiating table by holding the BSA hostage will not work. 

“The Taliban have no incentive to see a BSA” signed, Dobbins told the committee, adding Karzai’s delays are only strengthening the group’s position inside Afghanistan and possibly along the contentious tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border. 

So far, the effects of Karzai’s delay on the BSA have not reached down to the battlefield, where U.S. and Afghan forces continue to battle Taliban forces in the country. 

But if Karzai’s holdout continues into April, “real dangers” to American and Afghan operations could surface, particularly as Kabul taked full control of the security mission in the country, according to Dobbins. 

“You could draw some very unpleasant scenarios” from continued delay in BSA approval on the U.S. combat mission, he added.