Karzai, "I will join the Taliban"

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

I predict a sticky end

 

IN THE weeks between Barack Obama’s night-time stopover in Kabul and Hamid Karzai’s scheduled trip to Washington, DC, in May, American officials might have expected a patch of calm in the stormy relationship between the two countries. Not a bit of it. In the past week, the troublesome Afghan president has caused alarm and dismay among his allies with three extraordinary outbursts.

 

First, in seemingly off-the-cuff remarks to election workers, he accused the allies of “massive fraud” during last year’s presidential poll, claiming America, Britain and the United Nations were all plotting to undermine him. That was, to say the least, a bold rewriting of history: the Election Complaints Commission, a hybrid Afghan-international watchdog that Mr Karzai has tried to seize control of, found evidence of industrial-scale fraud last year in the president’s favour.

 

Next, after the American ambassador had demanded “clarification” of what on earth Mr Karzai was talking about, the president went further, telling a private meeting with members of Parliament that if foreign interference continued he would “join the Taliban”. Finally, in Kandahar for talks with elders about this summer’s military operations, he reaffirmed that he meant every word of his original outburst.

 

Mr Karzai depends on international support for his survival, so is he going completely mad? Rumour in Kabul suggests that yes, he might be. Abdullah Abdullah, the opposition leader and an ophthalmologist by training, describes the president’s behaviour as “erratic” and says that “as a former colleague and doctor, I think this is beyond a normal attitude”. Peter Galbraith, the former deputy head of the UN mission in Kabul (who had been singled out by Mr Karzai for his role in the alleged plot), said the president’s tirades raised “questions about his mental stability” and that he had (according to palace insiders) “a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan’s most profitable exports”. Mr Karzai’s team promptly called Mr Galbraith a liar. The diplomat offered no evidence for his assertions, which were also dismissed by the White House.

 

There are a number of explanations for Mr Karzai’s outbursts, other than the psychotropic or psychotic. Many believe, as the Afghan president himself said this week, that he was simply asserting his country’s sovereignty against meddling foreigners. America has increased its demands on the president of late because it needs his help in a counterinsurgency strategy that calls not only for more allied troops but also for a clean-up of the corrupt and ineffective government. Others think Mr Karzai is just talking from the heart, and remains enraged by the blame heaped on him during last summer’s election which he genuinely believes he won outright in the first round.

 

Either way, the outbursts have raised questions about his capacity to deliver his side of the bargain in Afghanistan—more troops for better government—which Mr Obama needs to show is working before America’s mid-term elections in November. With the administration almost as reliant on him as he is on them, months of turbulence lie ahead.

 

just for the record - Karzai has been 'asked' to call his brother into line numerous times by the US/US/Allies...but hasn't. His brother is a rather large trader in a certain 'profitable export'...

[fyds]

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[John am Rhein]

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[fyds]

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[surf]

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