KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai insisted Thursday that the United States confine its troops to major bases in Afghanistan by next year, as the Taliban announced that they were suspending peace talks with the Americans, both of which served to complicate the Obama administration's plans for an orderly exit from the country.

Mr. Karzai's abrupt planning shift was at odds with a pledge offered hours earlier by President Barack Obama to stick to a 2014 withdrawal schedule for troops in Afghanistan. It also ran up against the Pentagon's assessment that Afghan security forces were not yet ready to take over control of the country.

Mr. Karzai's surprise announcement, which would confine U.S troops to their bases a year earlier than Mr. Obama proposed, was initially made at a Thursday meeting with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who spent a fraught two days apologizing in person to the Afghan president for the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S soldier Sunday at a village in Kandahar province. Upon Mr. Panetta's arrival, an Afghan interpreter working for coalition forces crashed a stolen pickup truck near his plane.

Further fraying U.S efforts to preserve some degree of control over the Afghanistan exit strategy, Taliban insurgents announced Thursday that they had broken off preliminary peace talks with the U.S side. While the move may have been coincidental, it imperiled another crucial element of the U.S exit strategy -- brokering peace talks between insurgents and the Afghan government.

"International forces should leave the villages and move to their bases," Mr. Karzai said, according to an account of the meeting released by his office. He also insisted that "both sides should work on a plan to complete the security transition process by 2013 instead of 2014."

Both Afghan and U.S officials scrambled to put the best possible face on yet another rift between the two allies, coming at what both hope will be a final stage in negotiations between their diplomats on a long-term strategic partnership, and at a time when some White House officials have been advocating an accelerated withdrawal.

Some suggested that Mr. Karzai was merely reacting to anger over the massacre -- and to the U.S move Wednesday to send the staff sergeant accused of opening fire on the civilians out of Afghanistan to Kuwait. They also noted that under the timetable agreed to at a 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon, the transition of security responsibility from the U.S military and its NATO partners to Afghan forces already called for foreign forces to adopt a more supportive role by 2013, although they would be actively engaged in combat until 2014, as needed. (NYtimes March 16, 2012 )

Some slob hit my car....  When I came back to the parkingspot the culprit was already gone with the wind.. I was forced to inspect the damage... Oh my Beautiful Car - the only thing left in my life that still is reasonable intact and nice - now worn and torn and with an ugly disfiguring rash all along the right side... What´s the damage..? Will probably cost thousands or more to repair..! Where shall I get money to fix it up..?  I don´t mind admitting that tears sprang to my eyes.. It just isn´t fair..!

Tio dagar utan (vettigt fungerande) dator... Tack Felix som fick ut budskapet å blog.. Läsekretsen har dock inte gått miste om så mycket upplyftande..

Gjorde en skakande upptäckt; Melodifestivalens låttitlar skulle väl kunna sammanfatta Life of Yours Truly - ivf de senaste månaderna..

* Amazing

*Why start a Fire

* Mystery

* Shout it out

* Soldiers

* Baby Doll

* Euphoria

* Mirakel

* Why am I crying

och så slutligen det trösterika

* Jag reser mig igen...

För det behövs kvaliteér långt över det vanliga för att ta sig samman.. När jag kikar bakåt på vad som skrevs å blog de senaste åren så är det häpnadsväckande hur aningslös man var..! Hur kunde man på fullt allvar ägna sig åt de fånerier som uppenbarligen togs helt seriöst - och som, med tanke på antalet besökare, uppenbarligen hade ett viss läsarintresse..

Tillvaron få understundom sina rätta proportioner.. Det senaste halvåret har min familj i alla dess perifera delar drabbats av allvarliga sjukdomar, dödsfall, förluster, långtidsarbetslöshet, separation... ja, alla i familjen har inte råkat ut för allt av ovanförmälda - ivf inte samtidigt - men närapå...

Och samtidigt - man ska aldrig underskatta människans förmåga - och då särskilt Yours Truly´s..! - att överleva vedervärdigheter - för det är här den inspirerande Thorsten Flinck kommer in och Reser sig igen...  

Hej!

Lisbeth's dator ligger nere för tillfället och går inte att använda så det går inte att nå henne via datorn och internet.

Mvh

//

Felix

I can't do without you...

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks to the media during a news conference at a seminar on SACT February 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong)

WASHINGTON - NATO's top civilian official on Tuesday praised U.S and allied troops in Afghanistan for showing "remarkable restraint" in the face of anti-coalition violence following the burning of Muslim holy books at a NATO base.  The NATO chief echoed the Obama administration's stay-the-course theme on Afghanistan, insisting that the breakdown in trust between the allies and the Afghans, as evidenced by Saturday's shooting in the Interior Ministry, would be overcome.

"We will not allow the extremists to weaken our resolve," he said. "We will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Afghan partners, and we will not lose sight of our shared goal. We are in Afghanistan to build stability and security for the Afghan people, which is in the interest of our own security."

He said Saturday's shooting, following a series of incidents in which other allied troops have been shot by their supposed Afghan partners, "does not represent the daily picture" of cooperation on security and other issues.

The withdrawal of advisers is temporary and "will not in any way affect the timeline" for giving the Afghan government full responsibility for security across the country by the end of 2014, he said.