In a New York Times interview published on Saturday, Karzai said he wanted U.S. forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban members and their sympathizers, saying that fear of arrest along with past mistreatment were discouraging them from coming forward and laying down their arms.

"It has to happen," he said of the end to such arrests. Karzai also said in the interview conducted on Friday that he did not have specific details about alleged mistreatment of people in custody."

When you set up a "with us or against us" scenario, an "unconditional surrender" setup you also create a fight to the death.

And the Taliban has fought the US, Britain and NATO to a standstill in Afghanistan. The badguys have more territory and sympathy of the people than does the puppet government. (Which has to live in a secure compound similar to the Green Zone in Baghdad. So much for democracy, freedom and will of the people.

Arf