U.S. CONTRADICTS KARZAI, WILL OCCUPY KANDAHAR WITHOUT CONSENT OF TRIBES

"The U.S. military has now officially backtracked from its earlier suggestion that it would seek the consent of local shuras, or consultative conferences with those elders, to carry out the coming military occupation of Kandahar city and nearby districts – contradicting a pledge by Afghan President Hamid Karzai not to carry out the operation without such consent....

"President Karzai said to a shura of between 1,000 and 2,000 Kandahar province tribal elders Apr. 4... (that) NATO's Kandahar operation would not be carried out until the elders themselves were ready to support it... (and) the elders were not calling for expelling the Taliban from the city and its environs. When Karzai asked the assembled elders whether they were "happy or unhappy for the operation to be carried out", they shouted loudly, "We are not happy."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51059