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Karzai Orders U.S. Special Forces To Leave Afghan Province

Danny Lee |
February 24, 2013 | 7:19 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered U.S. Special Operations forces out of a key province in light of allegations of torture and murder. (Creative Commons)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered U.S. Special Operations forces out of a key province in light of allegations of torture and murder. (Creative Commons)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered all U.S. Special Operations forces to leave a strategically important province lying southwest of Kabul, after allegations of torture and murder, the Washington Post reported.

It is still unclear whether Karzai would act on the order for Special Operations troops to leave within two weeks. In a statement from the Afghan government, Special Operations forces based in Wardak province were accused of harassing, annoying, torturing and murdering civilians.

More from the Washington Post:

"…the order came at a sensitive time, with the withdrawal of conventional forces from Wardak and elsewhere in Afghanistan making the role played by Special Operations forces more critical. It also threatened to cast a pall over 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."

The U.S.-led coalition based in Afghanistan issued a statement that it takes abuse allegations seriously, call it "an important issue that we must discuss with our Afghan counterparts."

 

Read the full story at the Washington Post. Find more Neon Tommy stories on Hamid Karzai here.

Reach Executive Producer Danny Lee here; follow him here.



 

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