Is Karzai a friend or foe to the US?
| 10:26 UK time, Thursday, 8 April 2010
Update: Friends of a Taliban Commander who was the first to kidnap foreigners, three UN workers in Kabul in 2004, say he has been by President Karzai. Akbar Agha was supposed to serve 16 years but is now free. One of Afghanistan's Human Rights Commissioners says pardons are often given secretly to people with money or influence.
Last week President Karzai accused the West of electoral fraud and 'practically christened the Taliban as a movement against foreign domination'. In his latest statement, President Karzai has said that he'll join the Taliban should the international community put pressure on him.
No wonder the US is by President Karzai's behaviour and asking whether he's a . Whose side if Mr. Karzai on?
Whilst the West are scratching their heads about what's going on in President Karzai's head, there is support out there for the Afghan leader. Hasan Abidi, comments on .
"The so called international community which comprises of imperialists, capitalists and feudalists and a bunch of hypocrites of the West will never like to see any other nation's progress. Mr Karzai's outburst and threat to join Taliban is to be taken seriously and third world countries should come forward and force (the) West to keep its hands (out of) the internal affairs of other nations. "
Tod Robberson attempts to make sense of the apparent Talibanisation of President Karzai in .
'Karzai is trying hard to make himself look relevant and important, as if he were president of an entire country rather than mayor of Kabul. But his words give him more of a Chavez-like buffoon image than of a leader. Karzai is blessed with enormous intelligence and diplomatic skill. What's going on with this guy?'
And there's no shortage of people asking the same question and .
Robberson adds a word of warning,
'If Karzai is under the illusion that he actually runs his country, he would in fact be smart to join the Taliban because he's about to lose the minimal backing the United States offers him. But he should be forewarned: the Taliban has much less patience for corruption than we do. Karzai might have to pay an arm and a leg, literally, if he faces Taliban justice.'
But feels that Mr. Karzai is gearing up for just that - a US departure.
In , William Maley shares his concern about this possibility that Mr.Karzai's comments may be more than a mere tantrum.
Does the US have any choice but to support President Karzai now and what should they do if he over-steps the mark? Or has the US dug a hole for itself as ?
'We're not in Afghanistan to do Karzai a favor, but if you look at his experience over the past nine years, we treated him like he could do no wrong for about seven and a half years' worth of his tenure. It's natural, I suppose, that he should behave so petulantly when his meal ticket ends.'
Are President Karzai's words empty threats or should the West be concerned?
