Must be tough to have to defend this Karzai fellow

[robdogbucky]

Karzai Slams The West AGAIN

"KABUL - President Hamid Karzai's scathing attack on the West for its role in Afghanistan drew criticism from Afghan politicians after the White House described his remarks as genuinely troubling.

Despite Karzai's attempt at damage control, including a telephone conversation Saturday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, his allegations laid bare the growing mistrust between the Afghan government and its international partners as the United States and NATO ramp up troop levels to try to turn back the Taliban.

Moreover, on the same day of Karzai's call to Clinton, he also held a private meeting with dozens of Afghan lawmakers where he "lashed out at his Western backers for the second time in three days, accusing the U.S. of interfering in Afghan affairs and saying the Taliban insurgency would become a legitimate resistance movement if the meddling doesn't stop," the Wall Street Journal reported...

... A U.N.-backed watchdog threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes in the Aug. 20 ballot, forcing him into a runoff that was canceled after his remaining opponent dropped out saying he had no assurances that the second round would be any cleaner than the first."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/karzai-slams-the-west-aga_n_524669.html



Read the rest of this story. It contains some gems as quotes, such as Karzai's accusation that the UN and the international community were engaged in a "vast fraud," designed to deny him his electoral victory last year. He also alleged that they "want a parliament that is weak and for me to be an ineffective president." The state dept.'s similarly Orwellian response in damage control is worth the read.

Didn't we elect those we thought were going to put an end to these international charades?



Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

1. and it will only get worse over time

[DCBob]

2. Beats having a Talibanger in charge..

IMO.

[robdogbucky]

5. Really?

That is some statement you made.

Hmmmmmmm.....


AP, Jan 9:Afghans losing hope after 8 years of war
http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/01/09/afghans-losing-hope-...

"It's a disaster," said Ramazan Bashardost, a lawmaker who came in a distant third in the country's botched August election, which was marred by fraud so widespread a third of Karzai's ballots were thrown out. "The situation is getting worse every day for ordinary Afghans." According to Bashardost, about 80 percent of the country is without electricity and unemployment is 60 percent. Many families can only afford to eat once a day and corruption is so rampant, "it's practically legal," he said.
"People ask, 'What has democracy brought?'" he said. Besides helping keep warlords accused of war crimes in power, Bashardost added, "the answer is: insecurity." Guerrilla attacks have made even provinces surrounding the capital unsafe. Hashimi said his family owns land in Wardak province, which neighbors the city, but he hasn't been home in years because the roads are too dangerous….

But "what happened to all this money?" said Bashardost. "Has garbage been cleaned up? Have all the streets been paved?"
Many think some of those funds have been diverted to places like the city's Shirpoor neighborhood, where the powerful clique Washington brought to power eight years ago bulldozed dozens of crumbling mud-brick homes occupied by squatters and divvied the land among cronies. Residents deride the gaudy mirrored mansions as "poppy palaces" because they are believed to have also been constructed in part with money from the drug trade. Few believe their owners could have built them with paltry official salaries; they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and rent for $20,000 per month...




Yup, that Karzai fellow sure is a smashing success, ain't he? Is this what we are propping him up for? Hard to imagine what could be worse. No doubt you will tell us what you have been told to say in response to such doubts. Taliban bad. Karzai our guy, good.

I leave it up to your genius minds to interpret these musings. Afghanistan, where empires go to die.



rdb

[DCBob]

6. How soon some forget. Life under the Taliban was horrendous

They executed innocent people in public. Women were not permitted to work and girls not allowed to attend school beyond eight years old. Women had to be covered from head to toe in public. Men had to wear full beards. Music, television, photography and movies were all banned. They destroyed ancient historical objects such as the stone Buddhas which can never be replaced.

Karzai is a saint compared to them.

[Better Today]

3. Looks like Karzai is taking lessons from US and Western politicians,

tell the public one thing, and then turn around and kiss your bossman's ass, for Karzai at the moment, that happens to be US.

[ixion]

4. why is he being defended

that is the more pertinent issue, IMO.

[Robb]

7. It's something of a straw man around here lately.

Karzai has been increasingly marginalized by this administration since they took office. His anti-US rhetoric has gradually ramped up in response.

This latest dust-up is about as surprising as sunrise.