Hillary Mann Leverett in Politico.

Sorting this out must start with sober recognition of an essential truth: America's war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan was not, is not and will never be Karzai's war.

Americans are not entitled to feel affronted when Karzai does not meet our expectations of him as a "wartime ally" -- whether in combating opium cultivation and trafficking, pursuing "good governance," advancing women's rights or building a genuinely national Afghan army and national security apparatus. None is a high priority for him.

Olivia Hampton on the Guardian's CiF.

But don't be fooled by appearances. Tensions are still boiling just below the surface. For all the pomp and circumstance of the four-day visit by the Afghan president and his posse of cabinet ministers and senior advisors to the US capital, the Obama administration is working hard behind the scenes to weaken his authority by reinforcing local governance to boost elusive stability of a war-torn country.

BBC report.

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.

[...]

The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base.

Guardian report.

In private, diplomats in Kabul compare him to the head of a mafia-style criminal syndicate. But very few people will criticise him publicly, particularly anyone who lives in Kandahar. Some foreign policy analysts have broken the silence however, most notably Steve Coll, a former journalist and respected observer of Afghanistan, who wrote last month that Ahmed Wali "is the most visible, most intractable symbol of the corruption and the corporate self-interest of the Karzai government in southern Afghanistan".

[...]

Forsberg argues that Karzai's commercial empire does not just anger ordinary Kandaharis. "Many of the local powerbrokers who are excluded from Wali Karzai's network see the Taliban insurgency as the only viable means of political opposition," he said.

BBC report.

The UKIP candidate for Norwich North has called for the blowing up of Iran before it acquires nuclear weapons and has described Afghans as "backward". Responding to a survey about troops on the website theyworkforyou.com, Glenn Tingle used swear words to describe tribes in Afghanistan.

He said: "We should blow them up first" when replying to a question about Iran's nuclear weapons programme.

Independent article.

It is one of the few genuine issues of life and death during this general election campaign. It will not dictate how much any British school improves, how many police appear on the streets of a city, or how quickly patients are allowed to leave hospitals around the country. But it will, literally, decide the fate of thousands of British service personnel and, ultimately, how many of them live and die.

Yet nobody wants to talk about Afghanistan.

BBC report.

Afghan prisoners are being abused in a "secret jail" at Bagram airbase, according to nine witnesses whose stories the BBC has documented.

The abuses are all said to have taken place since US President Barack Obama was elected, promising to end torture.

Independent report.

Nato's hopes for winning over the Afghan population in the south of the country ahead of a massive new military campaign took a major blow yesterday when Nato soldiers opened fire on a civilian bus in Kandahar City and killed four passengers.

Times report.

Assange, an Australian, says he was followed on a flight from Reykjavik to Copenhagen by two American agents. The group has riled governments by publishing documents leaked by whistleblowers.

[...]

Assange claims surveillance has intensified as he and his colleagues prepare to put out their Afghan film.

Christina Lamb in the Times.

The Karzai family has now hit back, accusing US officials of launching a smear campaign as a prelude to abandoning the country again. "There's a very bad policy developing towards Afghanistan," said the president's brother Mahmoud Karzai, a businessman who lives in Kabul. "They want to discredit the Afghan government in the eyes of the US public. I hope it's not the beginning of an exit strategy. If it is, God help us, it will be very bad -- don't they remember what happened when they did this before in the Eighties?"

Scott Horton in Harpers on the revolution in Kyrgyzstan.

The developments in Kyrgyzstan are being followed warily in Washington, Berlin, and London because of the Manas air base developed by the United States and used by the NATO allies. It forms a key supply terminal in their northern logistical support network, supporting military operations in Afghanistan. The protestors are focused on the same facts. By and large, the crowds in Bishkek show no signs of being anti-U.S. or anti-Russian, but they are concerned about the corrupt relationship that has developed between the United States military and their leaders.

AlterNet report. The New York Times report referred to in the article is here.

"We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat," McChrystal said during a recent video-conference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties.

Guardian report.

The war of words between the former deputy head of the UN mission to Afghanistan and the country's president escalated last night when Peter Galbraith suggested that Hamid Karzai's "mental stability" was in question and that he has a substance abuse problem.

Galbraith, the US diplomat who worked for the UN in Kabul until last year, made his remarks live on US television. His comments come as the White House considers withdrawing an invitation for Karzai to meet Barack Obama in Washington next month.

Greenwald comments.

On February 12 of this year, U.S. forces entered a village in the Paktia Province in Afghanistan and, after surrounding a home where a celebration of a new birth was taking place, shot dead two male civilians (government officials) who exited the house in order to inquire why they had been surrounded, and then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager). The Pentagon then issued a statement claiming that (a) the dead males were "insurgents" or terrorists, (b) the bodies of the three women had been found by U.S. forces bound and gagged inside the home, and (c) suggested that the women had already been killed by the time the U.S. had arrived, likely the victim of "honor killings" by the Taliban militants killed in the attack.

New York Times report.

The admission immediately raised questions about what really happened during the Feb. 12 operation -- and what falsehoods followed -- including a new report that Special Operations forces dug bullets out of the bodies of the women to hide the true nature of their deaths.

BBC report.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accused foreign election observers of fraud during last year's disputed vote.

Fraud had been widespread, Mr Karzai conceded, but he blamed foreigners for it, saying the UN was its focal point. Mr Karzai singled out Peter Galbraith, the then deputy head of the UN mission, who he said had organised the fraud.