Karzai wants night raids ended before he signs an Afghan SOFA agreement with U.S.

[bigtree]

. . . or, SORTA (state of remaining troops agreement) as I've taken to calling it.

End night raids before Afghan deal: Karzai

(Reuters) Wed Nov 16, 2011- Afghanistan wants the United States and NATO to agree to stop carrying out night raids on Afghan homes as a precondition to signing a partnership deal with Washington, President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday.

Night raids, which foreign troops say are one of their most effective weapons in the fight against insurgents, are a major cause of friction between Karzai and his Western backers. The Afghan leader has said repeatedly he wants them stopped.

"We want a strategic partnership but with specific conditions: our national integrity, no night raids, no house searches," Karzai told a meeting of around 2,000 Afghan political and community leaders in the capital city Kabul.

The strategic partnership agreement, still under discussion between Washington and Kabul, will govern American involvement in Afghanistan after the deadline for the exit of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Afghanistan is also negotiating similar agreements with Britain, France, Australia and the European Union, Karzai said.


read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/us-afghanistan-jirga-idUSTRE7AF1Y920111116

[Angry Dragon]

1. shaking head