Afghan-US talks all talk and no deed - activist

13 May, 2010 02:34 / Updated 14 years ago

As they prepare for a major military push in Kandahar, Presidents Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama emphasized their unity, following a recent plunge in relations. US activist David Swanson is skeptical about their talks.

Speaking in Washington, they said tension will always be present but pledged to fight on for Afghanistan's democratic future – including with non-military solutions.

However, author and activist David Swanson told RT he believes the talk is just rhetoric with no substance.

“It was striking that after 10 years, here was a press conference about this war [in Afghanistan], where all of the talk about progress was speculative about the future and there was nothing they could honestly say that had been accomplished up to this point,” Swanson said. "He [President Karzai] says the progress is being made on civilian casualties and then all he can point to is that they are having more talks about it.”