Hamid Karzai

[Read part 1 here]      Focused first and foremost on consolidating his power, like any political leader facing an insecure environment (the same principle applies to North Korea, who seeks a nuclear deterrent to ensure regime survival), Karzai failed to make the needs of the Afghan people his priority, as reflected in the flawed loya jirga most recently.

Deciding Afghanistan's Stability Everywhere but Afghanistan

The peace and stability of Afghanistan, the subject of numerous international, regional and national consultations, consistently shuts out the Afghan people themselves, and the recent peace jirga (June 2-4) hosted by Hamid Karzai was no exception. This calls into question the validity of the Obama administration’s approach, on more levels than one.

As American politicians and pundits searched for lessons to be learned from September 11, the paucity of domestic experts knowledgeable about South Asia was noted as a weakness the U.S. government had to address urgently, by cultivating a cadre of diplomats and linguists.

“It was Dr. Abdullah’s right to choose to withdraw from the runoff election. My future actions will all be guided by the Afghan Constitution and I will accept the decision made by the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan.” (Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai on his rival’s decision to withdraw from presidential elections.)