THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

It has long been known that the more militant members of the US government want to continue with an Imperial outpost in Afghanistan after the bulk of the troops are withdrawn. To do this, the Imperialists must get a Status of Forces agreement with Karzai of the Afghans that, among other things, allows for extrality which puts US soldiers above any local laws. The latset move by Karzai of the Afghans would seem to indicate his objection to this.

Afghan officials said Monday that they demanded the pullout of U.S. Special Operations forces from an insurgency-wracked province because the U.S.-backed NATO command here for months has ignored residents’ allegations of severe abuses committed by the elite American troops.

NATO, meanwhile, said its past inquiries found no evidence to support allegations of misconduct by U.S. Special Operations forces in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul.

A joint commission of inquiry composed of Afghan and NATO coalition officials is expected to be formed within days to explore the claims raised over the weekend by President Hamid Karzai’s administration — including allegations of the arrest, torture and extrajudicial killing of civilians.

Karzai on Sunday stunned the International Security Assistance Force, as the coalition of foreign forces is known, by ordering all U.S. Special Operations forces to leave Wardak in two weeks, based on allegations that they had been involved in the torture and murder of “innocent people.”

NATO officials would not comment Monday on whether Karzai’s other demand — an immediate halt to Special Operation forces’ activity in Wardak — had been implemented...

It remained unclear on Monday whether Karzai would follow through on his order banning U.S. commandos from Wardak or would, as with past edicts aimed at restricting U.S.-led operations, reach a negotiated agreement with NATO forces.

His order comes at a sensitive time, with the withdrawal of conventional forces from Wardak and elsewhere in Afghanistan making the role played by Special Operations forces there more critical. It threatened to cast a pall on deliberations between the United States and its allies over the scope and price tag of the West’s commitment to Afghanistan after NATO’s mandate for operations in the country expires at the end of 2014.

Last week, Karzai banned his forces from calling in NATO airstrikes in populated areas, citing civilian casualties. But Sunday’s statement was Karzai’s most acerbic in recent months against the international community, following a period during which the Afghan president has been largely conciliatory toward the foreign nations that pay the biggest portion of his government’s bills.

Paying the bills does not give you carte blanche to kill anybody you please and Karzai of the Afghans is trying to look like a leader before he bolts with the cash. Hopefully his last act as a leader will be to not sign a Status of Forces agreement.