Once a star, Afghan president now on the defensive

This is from AFP via Yahoo.

This is interesting in that Karzai has not changed very much. All that has changed is US and western perception of him. The one respect in which Karzai has changed is in his criticism of US and NATO policy particularly of bombing that produces many civilian casualties. He has become more critical of the policy of those who had earlier promoted him as a star. There will be attempts to launch a new star but so far we do not know who exactly this new star will be. Earlier it seemed that Zalmay Khalilzad would be the new star but there is no mention of him since Obama took over the presidency.


Once a star, Afghan president now on the defensive

by Jim Mannion
Jim Mannion Sun Feb 15, 10:37 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Once the toast of Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai now finds himself on the defensive, dogged by charges of government corruption and questions about whether he still has friends in the White House.
With problems mounting in Afghanistan, officials, commentators and, most importantly, US President Barack Obama are taking a sharper look at the man who has been the public face of the faltering Afghan project seven years on.
"They've got elections coming up, but effectively, the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community," Obama said this week in a comment that has set the tone for the new US skepticism.
Karzai responded in kind in an interview with CNN to air Sunday, saying he was "surprised to hear that statement."
"Perhaps it's because the administration has not yet put itself together. Perhaps they have not been given the information yet. And I hope as they settle down, as they learn more, we will see better judgment," he said.
The pre-recorded interview was to air after US envoy Richard Holbrooke held talks in Kabul with Karzai, who vowed to send a delegation to Washington headed by Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta to take part in a major US review of the "war on terror."
It's not just Obama, though, who is pointing fingers at Karzai's tenure.
A US intelligence assessment delivered this week by retired admiral Dennis Blair, the new director of national intelligence, warned that Karzai's government was losing legitimacy because of endemic corruption and an inability to deliver basic services.
"Corruption has exceeded culturally tolerable levels and is eroding the legitimacy of the government," Blair's report said.
"The Afghan drug trade is a major source of revenue for corrupt officials, the Taliban and other insurgent groups operating in the country and is one of the greatest long-term challenges facing Afghanistan."
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently warned: "If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of a Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that much time, patience or money, to be honest."
To all of this, Karzai, who is running for re-election this year, pointed to the schools and roads and healthcare services introduced in Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest country.
"The engagement with the Afghan population is so wide and so widely spread that we've never had in our history," he told CNN.
Asked about allegations that his brother was involved in drug trafficking, Karzai said he had asked US authorities for evidence but it was never forthcoming.
Instead, he suggested that the rumors about his brother were floated in response to disputes with the Americans over aerial spraying of poppy fields and his strong public denunciation of civilian casualties in US air strikes.
"My conclusion is, yes, this was part of a political pressure tactic, unfortunately," Karzai said.
He said there was corruption in Afghanistan as in any developing country, exacerbated by a flood of aid money in a country devastated by years of war.
"Corruption is there, and it's in different levels -- there's petty corruption, there's corruption in contracting," he said. "Part of it is our problem, part of it is the problem of the international community and the way they make contracts."
In the interview, Karzai signaled other potential differences with Washington as it increases the size of its forces in Afghanistan,
The additional forces should focus on stopping the infiltration of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters across the country's porous borders, especially from Pakistan, rather than in Afghan communities, he said.
"Definitely the war on terrorism is not in the Afghan villages. It never was," he said.
Karzai said he could work "very positively" with Obama.
"But... people in our part of the world, they also have sensitivities, we also have morality. Some of us stand on a very high platform of morality in this part of the world," he said.
"When I complain about civilian casualties, it's because I expect that our American friends, who I'm sure are standing on a very high platform of morality, will understand it's a human concern and it has to be responded to by our friends in the United States."
Copyright © 2009 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.
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Karzai says NATO tie strained as US disputes Herat toll.

This is from antiwar.com.
Good old Zalmay Khalilzad explains that the discrepancy occurs because of the fog of war. No blame there, this explanation shows that he is deserving of Karzai's job when the next election for president takes place. Karzai has been complaining for ages to no avail. He should please the U.S. with a neat explanation such as that of Khalilzad. Maybe he could stay on as president of Afghanistan.

Karzai says NATO Ties Strained as US Continues to Dispute Herat Toll
Posted September 4, 2008
Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the scene of last month’s deadly US air strike in Herat Province today. During the visit President Karzai vowed “swift punishment” for those responsible for the incident, and warned that relations with NATO had been strained by the large number of civilian deaths.
The strike occurred on August 22 in the small village of Azizabad, and sparked angry protests by the village residents. Investigations by the Afghan government and the United Nations have both determined that at least 90 civilians were killed in the strike, and this has led Afghanistan’s cabinet to announce a review of the presence of international forces. In an attempt to placate the Afghan government, NATO announced a tripartite probe into the incident late last week.
But the United States has stood more or less behind its initial story: that the strike targeted and killed numerous militants. They have altered this somewhat, claiming initially no civilians killed then conceding first that five civilians were killed in the strike, and later revising that up to seven. This wildly different account is, according to US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, caused by “a fog of war”.
compiled by Jason Ditz [email the author

U.S.: Russia wants regime change in Georgia.

Hmmm..Seems to me that wanting regime change is a familiar phrase. The U.S. wanted regime change half way around the world in Iraq and also in Afghanistan and helped promote regime changes in other countries on Russia's doorstep such as the Ukraine or yes even Georgia! Zalmay Khalilzad the US ambassador to the UN is a potential president of Afghanistan to replace the out of favor (in the US) Karzai. He was a promoter of the Project for a New American Century so he should know all about regime change and imperialism.
Probably Russian aims are as follows:
i) to show Georgia that it cannot just solve the Abkazia and South Ossetia problem by military might. I find it surprising that Georgia thought that it could simply move in and take back South Ossetia.
ii) to ensure that Abakazia and South Ossetia remain at least autonomous and will not be further threatened by Georgian central government militarily.
iii) to send a message to the United States that Russia cannot be pushed around any more and that NATO should back off considering Georgia as a member.

Perhaps Khalilzad is correct. Certainly Russia would be happier if Georgia had a more pro-Russian leader but Russia will probably be content for now if Georgia simply accepts the status quo in Abkazia and South Ossetia.


ReutersU.S. suggests Russia wants "regime change" in Georgia08.10.08, 4:48 PM ET
Russian Federation - (Adds comments from Russian envoy, meeting on resolution)
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The United States suggested on Sunday that Russia was interested in "regime change" in Georgia after Moscow rejected Tbilisi's offer of a cease-fire in the separatist enclave of South Ossetia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili "must go," the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the Security Council.
Khalilzad then looked straight at Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and asked if Moscow was looking for "regime change."
"Is the goal of the Russian Federation to change the leadership of Georgia?" he said.
Churkin did not directly address the question but said there are leaders who "become an obstacle."
"Sometimes those leaders need to contemplate how useful they have become to their people," he told reporters later.
"Regime change is purely an American invention," he said. "We're all for democracy in Georgia."
Russian troops took the capital of South Ossetia earlier after a three-day battle as Georgian forces retreated and the Tbilisi government offered a cease-fire and talks.
In Moscow, Lavrov said the departure of Saakashvili, who was re-elected by popular vote early this year, was not a must to solve the crisis but that Russia no longer saw him as a partner.
Khalilzad told reporters the telephone call between Rice and Lavrov was "disturbing," adding that the days of overthrowing European governments by force were over.
Churkin insisted Russia was not out to take over South Ossetia. "Let's state clearly that we are ready to put an end to the war, that we will withdraw from South Ossetia, that we will sign an agreement on non-use of force," he said.
The U.S. envoy said he would introduce a U.N. resolution condemning Moscow, even though Russia is a permanent council member with the power to veto it. He was meeting later with British, French diplomats and other allies on the council.
The council has been unable to take any action in four emergency meetings on the crisis in as many days due, though the heated exchanges have been reminiscent of the Cold War.
'CAMPAIGN OF TERROR'
Georgian envoy Irakli Alasania told the Security Council that Churkin's comments were all "Soviet propaganda" and said Russia intended to repeat what it did in Chechnya.
Moscow plans to "erase Georgian statehood and exterminate the Georgian people," he said. Churkin in turn accused the Georgians of "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing".
Khalilzad said Russia was waging "terror" in Georgia.
"We must condemn Russia's military assault on the sovereign state of Georgia ... including the targeting of civilians and the campaign of terror against the Georgian population," he said.
Khalilzad also accused Russia of preventing the withdrawal of Georgian forces from South Ossetia to prolong the conflict and prevent Georgia from laying down its arms.
"Since Russia is impeding Georgian forces from withdrawing, rejecting a cease-fire and continuing to carry out military attacks against civilian centers, its claims of a humanitarian purpose clearly are not credible," Khalilzad said.
Churkin was furious that Khalilzad used the word "terror".
"This statement, ambassador, is completely unacceptable, particularly from the lips of the permanent representative of a country whose actions we are aware of, including with regard to the civilian populations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Serbia," Churkin told the council. (Editing by Philip Barbara) Copyright 2008 Reuters,

Strike by coalition forces kills 20 Afghans

This is from the BBC.

This is the second disputed attack in a few days. Karzai has been calling for more co-ordination with the Afghan authorities and criticising these attacks endlessly and without any effect. The U.S. cannot wait to elect a more pliable and perhaps less corrupt puppet president. Karzai has lost his photogenic appeal apparently. It is probably less due to corruption than to his efforts to control his masters a trait that is not to their liking. A possible successor is Zalmay Khalilzad a new U.S. favorite and close to the Bush administration as ambassador to Iraq.



At least 20 people have been killed in a missile strike by coalition forces in Afghan's eastern Nangarhar province.
Local people say that the group was a wedding party and that most of the dead were women and children.
But the US has denied this, saying those killed were militants involved in previous mortar attacks on a Nato base. Meanwhile Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into a missile attack by US helicopters on Friday in which 15 people died.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says the issue of civilian casualties is hugely sensitive in Afghanistan.
In the past, Mr Karzai has said that no civilian casualty is acceptable.

The latest claim of civilian casualties puts yet more pressure on the Afghan authorities and international forces to get it right when carrying out operations, our correspondent adds.
Deh Bala district governor Hamisha Gul told AFP news agency that 22 people had been killed in the strike - 19 of them women and children - and several more wounded.
He said the information had come from police and other officials investigating the incident in the remote area of Nangarhar province.
A man at a hospital in Jalalabad told AP news agency that the group was a wedding party on its way to the groom's house.
"They stopped in a narrow location for rest. The plane came and bombed the area," he said.
"There were between 80 to 90 people altogether. We have carried six of the injured to this hospital, and more might be coming. The exact number of casualties is not clear."
'No civilians'
However, US military personnel have denied reports that the group were civilians.
Coalition media officer Capt Christian Patterson told AFP they had received no reports of civilian casualties.
"It was not a wedding party, there were no women or children present," he said.
In a separate incident on Friday, 15 civilians were reported to have died in a missile attack in Kunar province.
Mr Karzai has ordered an investigation into the incident, which the US said killed only militants.
A statement released by presidency on Sunday said Mr Karzai "has repeatedly emphasised the (need for) coordination of military operations and has been deeply saddened since learning about this incident".