Karzai Karzai! Where then will
ye Hide?
It clicked in a strange way to my mind when I read the recent saying of great
Afghan Leader 'Hamid Karzai'. It came as a big headline in different national
and international newspapers/channels. Some pro-claimed the red line news with 'Karzai
issues warning to Pakistan' and some with 'Karzai asks why wont west hit
Pakistan'. A recent Afghan leader, who had no significance in Afghanistan, in
fact in the whole world is issuing warning to a country in which 3 Millions of
Afghan Nationals are already residing.
I was thinking if Karzai has forgotten What Pakistan did for his country in
past. Afghan nation was dieing when we given their nationals, a place to reside,
a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place where they can buy property. They
probably forgot that it was Pakistan who supported them in a war against their
enemy, when Russians came with their raised flag to invade Afghanistan.
A lot of us are unaware about the ever changing behavior of Hamid Karzai, He the
one who lives in a palace where just outside the door, several baby-faced guards
stand in loose formation, cradling Kalashnikovs. Beyond the guards lie other
government palaces, most of them empty and in various stages of bombed-out ruin.
Beyond the palaces, twenty-foot-high walls. Beyond the walls, the battered
capital city of Kabul. He is the person who doesn't even have control of
anything beyond his so called empire of Afghanistan that is ceased to few square
kilometers, today warns Pakistan. That more seems like a joke to me atleast.
Hamid Karzai twice nearly been killed after leaving the compound. Three members
of his cabinet have narrowly escaped assassination attempts; three others
weren't so lucky. Yes, it's bad for Karzai in Kabul, but it's worse still in the
provinces—which remain, his sunny depiction notwithstanding, throttled by the
world's largest opium trade, by warlords who have carved up the countryside into
lawless fiefdoms, and by Taliban insurgents who never got Operation Enduring
Freedom's message. It's bad for Karzai, but it's far worse for his people, 70
percent of whom are illiterate and 25 percent of whom are jobless.
So he stays behind his walls and holds meetings there and probably he is subject
to immense psychological disorder for which he is acting strange these days. But
wait! No! this is not the first time he is acting strange, he has a long rich
history of being a joker.
In last November's inaugural speech, Karzai addressed his "dear guests" --
including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, sitting in the front row --
saying: "Our friendship with the United States of America is not limited to our
joint struggle against violent extremists. . . . Rather, it is based on
Afghanistan's long-term interests towards the consolidation of stability and
tranquillity for our people in this region."
Referring to the United States as the largest contributor to his country's
security, economic development and good governance, he added: "I am fully
confident that the friendship will further expand."
Ten days earlier before the inaugural speech, In an interview with Margeret
Warner when asked whether he had any doubts about the U.S. commitment to
Afghanistan, the other Karzai said: "We keep hearing assurances from the United
States, but we are, like, once bitten, twice shy. We have to watch and be
careful, while we trust."
This doesn't ends here, in fact it goes further when one of Karzai's biggest
mood swings involved the U.N. efforts in Afghanistan. The interview with Warner
came a little more than a week after the United Nations announced that it was
taking 600 of its 1,100 international personnel out of the country after an
attack at one of its guesthouses in Kabul killed eight people, including five
U.N. employees.
Asked what impact the U.N. withdrawal would have, Karzai coldly responded, "No
impact, no impact." When asked, "So you don't care if they return?" the Afghan
president replied: "They may or may not return. I don't think Afghanistan will
notice it. We wish them well, wherever they are."
Ten days later, a different Karzai described the United Nations as providing
civilian leadership for eight years in organizing international assistance
conferences and coordinating the world's efforts in Afghanistan. "Afghanistan
appreciates the role of the United Nations and asks for a strengthening of the
role of this organization in the areas of agreement," he said.
Karzai's uncertainity was never refuted, he was brought in Afghanistan for the
upheaval of Afgan people with expectations of impressive progress in country. As
it was supposed to go in 'good feel story' like this. Osama bin Laden's
protectors, the Taliban, now live in caves. Girls can go to school again. Women
don't get beaten or stoned for refusing to wear burkas. Afghans can vote, and
do. But I am afraid to write, the case has 180 degree flip to the given
scenario.
"Regardless of how wonderful Bush said everything is in Afghanistan, we're
losing ground there," says a top Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer.
"And we're going to lose even more ground when we replace our troops with NATO,
which isn't up to the task of counterinsurgency." Larry Wilkerson, Colin
Powell's former chief of staff at the State Department, agrees: "We're trying to
do Afghanistan on the cheap. And it's costing us."
Such is the 'great Afghan leader' who is warning Pakistan with his country 'out
of his control'. Karzai's effort to bring peace in Afghanistan is still pretty
evidently seen by the experts as he is trying to deal with Talibans also known
as insurgents in Afghanistan. But interestingly this is going against his ever
fragrant gardens of his palace as minority leaders leaving Karzai's side over
leader's overtures to insurgents.
The man who served as President Hamid Karzai's top intelligence official for six
years has launched an urgent campaign to warn Afghans that their leader has lost
conviction in the fight against the Taliban and is recklessly pursuing a
political deal with insurgents.
In speeches to small groups in Kabul and across northern Afghanistan over the
past month, Amarullah Saleh has repeated his belief that Karzai's push for
negotiation with insurgents is a fatal mistake and a recipe for civil war. He
says Karzai's chosen policy endangers the fitful progress of the past nine years
in areas such as democracy and women's rights.
"If I don't raise my voice we are headed towards a crisis," he told a gathering
of college students in Kabul.”
All that purpose of writing was that Karzai is loosing in his own town but he
seems very much worried about Pakistan. He still after 8 years cannot get
control of Kabul but dreams of attacking Pakistan, he still cant walk freely in
streets of Kabul, he faced three assassination attempts, he is still not allowed
to go out of 'red zone' of Kabul but he still dreams of attacking Pakistan.
Trust me that seems like nothing but a joke!.
Interview can be visited at : https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec09/karzai_11-09.html