Despite Gains, Night Raids Split U.S. and Karzai

Marines cleared a compound after conducting a helicopter assault at night into Marja, a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan.

By THOM SHANKER, ELIZABETH BUMILLER and ROD NORLAND
NYT

WASHINGTON — For the United States, a recent tripling in the number of night raids by Special Operations forces to capture or kill Afghan insurgents has begun to put heavy pressure on the Taliban and change the momentum in the war in Afghanistan. For President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the raids cause civilian casualties and are a rising political liability, so much so that he is now loudly insisting that the Americans stop the practice.

The difference — and a flare-up over the raids between Mr. Karzai and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Afghanistan — is likely to be a central focus at a NATO summit this week in Lisbon, where the United States and NATO are to present a plan that seeks to end the combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014.

Publicly, the Obama administration took a diplomatic tone so as not to further inflame the situation before the Lisbon meeting, which will include President Obama, other NATO leaders and Mr. Karzai.

“On President Karzai’s concerns, we share these concerns,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters on Monday. “We’ve discussed them on a number of occasions.” But she stressed that “these operations are conducted in full partnership with the government of Afghanistan.”

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