Afghan leader: NATO should pull back to big bases


March 15, 2012 at 10:12a.m.

Afghan leader: NATO should pull back to big bases

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s president, angered by a U.S. soldier’s alleged killings of 16 civilians, demanded today that international troops pull out of villages and rural areas to main bases and let Afghan forces take the lead for countrywide security in 2013, a year ahead of schedule. In another major blow to the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, the Taliban militant group said at the same time that it was breaking off talks with the United States, claiming the U.S. kept changing the terms of negotiations.