Afghanistan: Karzai suspects U.S. is behind insurgent-style attacks, Afghan officials say --- KABUL — President Hamid Karzai has frequently lashed out at the U.S. military for causing civilian casualties in its raids. But behind the scenes, he has been building a far broader case against the Americans, suggesting that they may have aided or conducted shadowy insurgent-style attacks to undermine his government, according to senior Afghan officials. --- But Karzai believes it was one of many incidents that may have been planned by Americans to weaken him and foment instability in Afghanistan, according to the senior palace official, who is sympathetic to the president’s view and spoke on the condition of anonymity. He acknowledged that his government had no concrete evidence of U.S. involvement and that the American role had not been formally confirmed. -- U.S. officials, who have been informed of some of the claims, have reacted with incredulity and anger to the idea that they are trying to debilitate Afghanistan’s government, which they have supported with hundreds of billions of dollars. -- “It’s a deeply conspiratorial view that’s divorced from reality,” U.S. Ambassador James B. Cunningham said Monday. He suggested that one reason for the allegations might be to “throw us off balance.” -- The revelation of Karzai’s list helps explain why it has been so hard to conclude a security agreement that would leave thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the formal end of American military operations this year. Many U.S. and Afghan officials believe that accord is vital to this country’s long-term stability, but the Afghan leader has not signed it. -- The senior palace official said that the president began keeping the list several years ago to catalogue what were seen as suspicious incidents that might involve the U.S. government and that he added a slew of new ones over the past year. -- “It flies in the face of logic and morality to think that we would aid the enemy we’re trying to defeat,” said Cunningham, who added that he was aware of such allegations but had not directly heard such charges from Karzai. --- Privately, many U.S. officials wonder whether Karzai even believes his most incendiary contentions or if they are part of an effort to gain politically by demonizing American troops and diplomats. -- “Any suggestion that the U.S. has been involved in any way in suicide attacks or deliberate attacks on Afghan civilians is ludicrous,” said Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. “We have spent 12 years trying to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan in the face of threats from terrorist and insurgent networks . . . to suggest otherwise does a grave disservice to those who have sacrificed for the people of Afghanistan.” -- The one point both the Afghan and American sides seem to agree on is that relations have deteriorated during the last months of Karzai’s presidency. Congress recently sharply curtailed development aid and military assistance plans for Afghanistan ahead of the U.S. pullout. -- While his skepticism of the U.S. mission appears to have reached a fever pitch, Karzai has long been known for controversial public statements. Last year, he appeared to imply that Americans were collaborating with insurgents, claiming that a recent Taliban attack had “showed that [insurgents] are at the service of America” in attempting to destabilize Afghanistan. - More, Kevin Sieff, Washingtonpost, at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/karzai-suspects-us-is-behind-insurgent-style-attacks-afghan-officials-say/2014/01/27/a70d7568-8779-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d