Karzai Says United States Wants to Manipulate Him

[tekisui]

Source: Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has accused the United States of denouncing his friends and family in an effort to undermine his own position and make him more malleable.

In a wide-ranging interview with Le Figaro daily, released on Monday, Karzai also condemned a NATO airstrike last week on hijacked fuel tankers, and said he supported a mooted shift in U.S. military tactics in Afghanistan.

Karzai, who is closing in on a first-round victory in last month's presidential election, revealed strained relations with the United States and said U.S. criticism of his running mate, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, was actually aimed at him.

"The Americans attack Karzai in an underhand fashion because they want him to be more tractable. They are wrong. It is in their interest ... that Afghanistan's people respect their president," he said, referring to himself in the third person.

"It is in no-one's interest to have an Afghan president who has become an American puppet," he added.

The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch has called Fahim one of the most notorious warlords in the country, while Le Figaro said Washington had branded him a drug smuggler.

more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE58633620090907

[jeffbr]

1. Sounds like he wants another cash deposit in his Swiss bank account

from American taxpayers

[chelsea0011]

2. And our answer should be, "fine, we'll leave". And we should.

[Democracyinkind]

3. We won't until Far West Ltd. says we may.

[alphafemale]

4. He's just now figuring that out? nt

[Bucky]

5. As opposed to the Bush years when our support came without strings or preconditions

Thanks, Hamid. And welcome to the grown-ups club.

[gratuitous]

6. Uh, Hamid?

Everyone else saw the strings years ago. Pointing them out now just makes you look even more puppetish, if such a thing is possible.