The Honeymoon is Over

Cracks are beginning to appear across the Anglo-American alliance, not only in their respective capitals, but also in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Brits complain the CIA is sabotaging their military campaigns in both countries.

According to "The Independent":

"British sources have blamed pressure from the CIA for President Hamid Karzai's decision to dismiss Mohammed Daud as governor of Helmand, the southern province where Britain deployed some 4,000 troops this year. Governor Daud was appointed in mid-year to replace a man the British accused of involvement in opium trafficking, but on Thursday Mr Karzai summoned him to Kabul and sacked him, along with his deputy.

"'The Americans knew Daud was a main British ally,' one official told The Independent on Sunday, 'yet they deliberately undermined him and told Karzai to sack him.' The official said the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, was 'tearing his hair out'.

"Meanwhile, a confidential assessment of the situation in Iraq, seen by the IoS, has reported 'serious tensions' in the American-British coalition. American commanders in the country are believed to oppose the British strategy for handing over Maysan and Basra provinces to Iraqi control as part of an exit strategy."