Apparently President Karzai has heard about the time tables and strategic withdrawls of troops from Iraq and how well that seems to be working these days.  I guess what he might not have heard is that many of those troops are now coming to his country, because he’s asking for a planned withdrawl as well.

Mr Karzai made the call in a speech to a visiting UN Security Council team.

He said if Afghans had “no light at the end of the tunnel” they had the right to pursue other options, such as peace negotiations with the Taleban.

Mr Karzai said Afghans could be asking why a “little force like the Taleban can continue to exist, can continue to flourish, can continue to launch attacks”.

The president said after seven years Afghans were asking why “with the entire international community behind them, still we are not able to defeat the Taleban”.

Mr Karzai said there were two options.

First would be to set a timeline, saying that what had not been achieved in the past seven years would be achieved in the next “four years, five years or another seven years”.

But he added: “If we cannot give a light at the end of the tunnel to the Afghan people, [do] the Afghan people have a right to ask for negotiation for peace? [Do] the Afghan people have a right to seek other avenues?”

Mr Karzai said he would continue to fight al-Qaeda and Taleban members “who are ideologically against the rest of the world”.

However, he said Taleban members who were “part of the Afghan community” could be brought back to serve Afghanistan.

The BBC’s Daud Qarizadah in Kabul says Mr Karzai’s strong comments show he is extremely worried about the dissatisfaction and frustration among Afghans in the south and east where the insurgency is high.

The call for the timeline is an attempt to win support back in those regions ahead of elections next year, our correspondent says.

In addition to asking for some sort of a recognizable plan forward in his country, Karzai is also asking for an end to international security forces arresting Afghan citizens in their homes and on public roads, saying that is a job for the local police.

As to how the UN and U.S. will respond to these requests remain to be seen, but there is no question that new direction and a plan forward will be needed to reach any sort of success and stability in Afghanistan.

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