Hamid Karzai asks US troops to leave Afghan province

Kabul: Afghanistan’s President has ordered US special forces to leave a strategic province as he seeks tighter control over Afghan militia.
“We’re looking at those allegations, we didn’t find any evidence and we will talk to our colleagues and Afghan partners to find a solution,” Brigadier General Gunter Katz, spokesman for the US-led NATO mission, told a news conference.

Relations between Karzai and Washington have long been troubled, and with the bulk of NATO’s 100,000 combat soldiers due to leave and the Afghan president to step down next year, there is huge uncertainty about the future. “It appears to be an on-the-spot, emotional decision, based on a long-standing frustration that there are forces… Afghan and international, that are uncontrollable,” said Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
Meanwhile, Afghan President’s demand has come as a surprise to American commanders, who had no advance warning of the order, officials said.