Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, was in Washington on Tuesday. A mere month ago, Hamid Karzai’s corruption made him everybody’s dirt bag. In April the Washington Post reported the White House hinted it had considered canceling Hamid Karzai’s scheduled meeting with President Obama on Wednesday. .
Hamid Karzai and also the election
The Hamid Karzai election marked when Hamid Karzai’s corruption became public. In 2009, it was discovered that fraud was involved in Hamid Karzai’s election to a second term as president. Karzai, who won, blamed the west for the widespread fraud within the vote. He publicly criticized the western governments propping him up and got cozy with fellow puppet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when wearing his Karzai hat. Meanwhile, the U.S. spends about $6.3 billion a month in an unsecured loan to Afghanistan, according to an October 2009 report from the Congressional Research Service.
Corruption of Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai may be a U.S. puppet, but recently The US has lost its grip on his strings. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greeted Karzai very warmly in a reception at the State Department. The Obama administration can have to deal with Karzai for at least four more years. After Karzai was pressured by the US to a do over election, the opposition withdrew. The Obama administration finds itself locked in a co dependent relationship. America’s plans in Afghanistan depend on a corrupt leader who despises his handlers. Karzai is using this situation to get as much as he can.
The hat of Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, after talking bad about the coalition of countries sacrificing blood and treasure to keep him in Karzai hats made from aborted lamb fetuses, now whines about being abandoned. The political theatre being played out for Karzai should feed his ego and calm his anxiety. By July 2011, Obama plans on pulling out all troops. If the U.S. achieves that goal, Karzai, who has survived 3 assassination tries as Afghanistan’s president, is making it known that he will seek a new protector.
Hamid Karzai has a brother
Ahmad Wali Karzai, Hamid Karzai’s half brother, shows this corruption in Kandahar Province where he leads its Provisional Council. A major U.S. military effort is under way to drive the Taliban out of Kandahar province by the end of the year. Speaking of Hamid Karzai as a legitimate partner in this huge effort, Peter Galbraith, a former U.N. envoy to Afghanistan told MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown”:
“He’s prone to tirades. He can be very emotional, act impulsively. In fact, some of the palace insiders say that he has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan’s most profitable exports.”
Galbraith was talking about opium. Ahmad Wali is suspected of getting filthy rich from the opium trade in one of the world’s poorest countries. The Obama administration doesn’t have much evidence yet and the Karzai brothers deny this completely.
What a guy Hamid Karzai is
For his latest visit to Washington, Hamid Karzai was personally escorted on his flight from Kabul by none other than Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the ambassador to Afghanistan. The New York Times explains that Eikenberry wants to assure reporters at the White House that he now has faith in the Afghan president’s determination to succeed. In leaked classified cables obtained by the New York Times last November, Eikenberry told the Obama administration that Karzai “is not an adequate strategic partner” and “continues to shun responsibility for any sovereign burden”.
Hamid Karzai and in deep
In criticizing Karzai, Eikenberry knew what he was talking about. He is now a retired Army lieutenant general who had once served at the top American commander in Afghanistan in 2002-03. In the classified cables, he warned that a major military commitment to Afghanistan would result in “astronomical costs” — tens of billions of dollars — and would only deepen the dependence of the Afghan government on the United States. So far, that much has come true.
Citations
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040602175.html
MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34689185/
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/world/asia/11karzai.html?ref=us
