Afghanistan deserves more from US

By all accounts, the relationship between the United States and Afghanistan looks like that of an unhappy couple forced by circumstances to live under the same roof. This week's happenings more than prove that.

On Monday, the White House had to refute Afghan President Hamid Karzai's scathing remark against the US, saying it was "inconceivable". A day earlier, Karzai had accused the US of colluding with the Taliban because Washington wanted to convince Afghans that foreign forces would be needed to keep peace in Afghanistan even after NATO's current mission ends in 2014.

Karzai's searing remark must have taken visiting US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by surprise and marred what otherwise could have been an image-boosting visit for him in the first month of his appointment. This is, however, not the first time that Karzai has lashed out at the US. He once labeled the Americans as "occupiers".

Washington is justified in feeling maligned because the war in Afghanistan has cost it more than 2,000 lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. But despite paying a heavy price for the war, it has failed to convince Kabul that American presence in Afghanistan is a blessing.

This has been a bloody week for Afghanistan, which, along with Karzai's verbal attack, has come as an embarrassment for Hagel. On Monday, a helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing five American servicemen. Several hours earlier on the same day, two US soldiers and five Afghan army and police personnel were killed by an Afghan policeman in an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan. And deadly weekend attacks killed at least 19 Afghans, including eight children.

Even after 12 years of war, peace and stability remain a luxury for Afghans. A United Nations report released in February shows that 8 percent of the 2,754 Afghan civilians killed in 2012 were victims of Afghan and NATO-led forces. Indeed, US soldiers in Afghanistan have been accused of committing atrocities, including opening fire on Afghan civilians.

Even the US itself is not optimistic about Afghanistan's security prospects either in the short term or in the long run. US National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate hearing on Tuesday: "The Taliban-led insurgency has diminished in some areas of Afghanistan but remains resilient and capable of challenging US and international goals." The assessment is contrary to the Pentagon's usually upbeat evaluation that paints a picture of an impaired and divided Taliban.