Afghanistan's government split as Karzai suspends special forces chiefs --- Afghanistan's government has suspended the three police special forces commanders responsible for securing the capital during crucial presidential elections, and plans to try them in a court martial for making illegal detentions and desecrating a mosque. -- The three men have also been accused of collaborating with US and British commandos to serve foreign rather than Afghan aims, although they will not be tried as spies, according to an official source with first-hand knowledge of events. -- Since they were removed from their positions in late April, all special operations raids by police commandos have been suspended, raising questions about security in Kabul as insurgents arrive from safe havens in Pakistan and the country prepares for the annual "fighting season". -- The commanders come from one of the most respected parts of the Afghan security forces, which overall are still grappling with serious problems from corruption to drug addiction, despite years of western training and billions of dollars in funding. -- The charges they are expected to face appear to be relatively minor. They will be accused of temporarily holding a man without a warrant during a night raid on a group of suspected insurgents, and entering a mosque with dogs, the source said. They will deny both charges. -- President Hamid Karzai, who has for years been an outspoken critic of both night raids and illegal detentions, personally ordered the investigation and trial, in the face of opposition from top ministers and security officials. -- The allegations were made by a prosecutor who works with special forces and an intelligence official responsible for monitoring police behaviour. Both have since been promoted – one given the rank of general and the other the top prosecutor's job in Panjshir province, north of Kabul. -- A government official who asked not to be named confirmed that there was an investigation under way into the conduct of some special forces officers, but denied that anyone had been detained or suspended from his position. The interior ministry declined to comment on the case. -- The men facing trial, whom sources declined to name because of their position as commandos, were the officers leading two elite police squads, and a third senior official who organised their logistics. -- One officer headed the 333 commando unit which tackles threats nationwide, while a second was in charge of the crisis response unit, which tackles security emergencies in Kabul and also tries to preempt insurgent assaults by disrupting networks around the capital. -- The final man charged was director of operations for the special forces, who organised and signed off on all the logistics for their operations and briefed others about what they did. -- All three are in their early 30s, from ordinary families rather than the elite clans who dominate many sectors of Afghan politics, and have studied at military academies overseas. - More, Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/afghanistan-government-split-karzai-taliban-kabul