It seems that Hamid Karzai just can't be trusted on his own.
When
he breasted the microphone at the presidential palace on October 20, to
make an oblique admission that he attempted to steal the election and
would go along with the second poll which he had resisted for weeks, he
was flanked by a high-powered international posse - lest he depart from
the agreed script.
On one side was the US senator
John Kerry; on the other, the United Nations special envoy Kai Eide;
and riding shotgun were the British and French ambassadors.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - Angry Afghan villagers
protested Thursday against what they said was the killing of 11
civilians by foreign troops, but local authorities said only fighters
were killed.
The NATO-led force said it had fired a rocket from the ground at a
group it believed to be planting a roadside bomb in Babaji in Helmand
province. It said it was not aware of any civilians in the area and was
investigating the incident.
KABUL - The United Nations announced on Thursday it will evacuate more than half its international staff based in Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on a guest house for UN workers.
But the UN said it had no intention of abandoning Afghanistan, where 100,000 US-led foreign troops are battling a bloody insurgency eight years after the extremist Taliban regime was driven from power.
About 600 expatriate staff, from a total of 1,100 foreigners, will be temporarily relocated either within Afghanistan or abroad, UN spokesman Dan McNorton told AFP.
WASHINGTON - Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen expressed serious concern Wednesday over corruption in the Afghan government, warning President Hamid Karzai to crack down on offenders.
"We are extremely concerned about the level of corruption and the legitimacy of this government," Mullen told reporters. "It's far too much endemic."
Newly re-elected Karzai "has got to take significant steps to eliminate corruption," the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned.
KABUL - Afghanistan's election commission declared Hamid Karzai elected as president on Monday after it called off a runoff following the withdrawal of his only rival.
The run-off, called after the first round in August was marred by widespread fraud, was to have been held on November 7.
"The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president ... because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round," the commission's chief Azizullah Ludin told a news conference.
The warlords we champion in Afghanistan
are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic
freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban.
The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional.
The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are
pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality. War cannot be
waged to instill any virtue, including democracy or the liberation of
women. War always empowers those who have a penchant for violence and
access to weapons.
The Iraq war's chief New York Times cheerleader has reversed field on Afghanistan. Does it mean there will be no escalation?
In early 1968, after the devastating Tet Offense, CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite pronounced the Vietnam War unwinnable. Lyndon Johnson knew he had "lost middle America" and soon declined to run for a second term. The war dragged on for seven more hellish years. But the hearts and minds of the American public had been lost.
Matthew
Hoh, a former Marine captain with combat experience in Iraq, resigned
last month from his position with the Foreign Service, where he was the
the senior U.S. civilian in the Taliban-dominated Southern Afghanistan
province of Zabul, because he became convinced that our war in that
country will not only inevitably fail, but is fueling the very
insurgency we are trying to defeat.
“Deadliest bombs since ‘07 shatter Iraqi Complexes. Key Government Sites. Synchronized car blasts kill more than 130 — Security issue.” So reads the headline in my
newspaper.
According to the Associated Press, Iraq’s deadliest bombing in more than two years killed at least 155 and wounded more than 500 Sunday.
What kind of a public debate can we have on the most vital issues of the day in the
United States? A lot depends on the media, which determines how these issues are framed for most people.
