Afghan President Karzai Orders U.S. Special Forces out of Wardak Province

ALP training in Kajran district, Daykundi
province. (photo PO Matthew Leistikow)

The Long War Journal is reporting that President Karzai has given the order to the Ministry of Defense to order all U.S. Special Forces out of Wardak province, Afghanistan. The SF teams (sometimes referred to as Green Berets) are currently deployed in several areas of Wardak working with the Afghan Local Police (ALP) as part of the Village Stability Operations (VSO) program. If this development is true then it is very bad news. As the conventional forces of the United States and other troop contributing nations pull out of Afghanistan SOF will remain to work with ANA, ANP, and especially with the ALP. SOF will be one of the few organizations left in the country to influence the ANSF toward a more professional and competent force once we hit the December 2014 mark.

Karzai has always been reluctant to give the ALP his full support because they are usually less corrupt than other ANSF entities due to the oversight and influence of the SOF teams that live and train with the ALP; thus he cannot include them in his nefarious activities as much as he can other ANSF elements. With the departure of General Allen and the arrival of a new ISAF commander Karzai may be feeling his oats - first he orders his ANSF not to call in ISAF air strikes to support their operations and now he is seeking the removal of SF teams from one of the most successful programs in the country. One could think that he is setting the framework for his relationship with the new ISAF commander and prepping for when he has to sit down with the Taliban for a power-sharing arrangement post-2014. The Taliban have a great fear of the ALP and are pressing hard to have them neutralized. Read more in "Afghan president orders US Special Forces to leave Wardak province", The Long War Journal, February 24, 2013.