This non-expert of the Middle East who covers the Middle East is outraged that Karzai (for his own political reasons) would express outrage at regular stories of US murder of Afghan civilians. So what he does is that he basically expressed his own views and put it in the mouth of "Afghans" (see the headline) or to puppets of the US in the Afghan government. "The disparity in the Afghan president’s reaction has been rued by American officials here, but little commented upon, to avoid a messy diplomatic squabble in an already troubled alliance. Now it has started to draw criticism among many Afghans, who complain that their president has been looking for excuses to besmirch the Americans and delay signing a vitally important security deal with them, while overlooking equally serious or even worse abuses attributed to the Taliban.
In short, many Afghans have begun asking, Who exactly are our enemies here? The Americans, who underwrite our government and military but now say they will be forced to withdraw in 2015 without a security deal? Or the Taliban, who have a history of killing officials even remotely connected with the government — a policy that has apparently begun to claim the lives even of some independent relief workers?" Is this a foreign policy dispatch or an editorial? If the purpose is to serve US national war interests it does not matter really. But wait: Mr. Nordland did base his generalization on a survey of the Afghan people, here it is: "“We were so shocked by the president’s decision on postponing the signing of the B.S.A.,” one high-ranking official said..."
