Karzai stands in solidarity with the Taliban

Everyone demands the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded a “calendar plan for the phased withdrawal” of coalition troops from the country. This sensational statement, as the Afghanistan.ru news agency points out with reference to Afghan television, he made on November 25 at his residence at a meeting with the UN Security Council delegation that arrived in Kabul. At the meeting, which was held behind closed doors, Karzai appeared to be a very decisive leader. He said: “Seven years after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, the war on terrorism is still ongoing. Our people have already lost hope for the future.” “The international community must set a time frame for ending the fight against terrorism. Otherwise, we reserve the right to negotiate with the enemy to establish peace and stability ,” the Afghan president said. This could be regarded as Karzai’s challenge to the West, on whose bayonets his power essentially rests, if not for the support of the idea of ​​a peaceful dialogue between official Kabul and the Taliban expressed by the UN Secretary General and the NATO leadership.

Hamid Karzai's demarche looks especially unexpected, given the Pentagon's plans to increase the 32,000-strong American military contingent in Afghanistan by another 20,000 during 2009, announced just the day before by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. According to Gates, the purpose of the US military buildup is to ensure security during the presidential elections in Afghanistan.

The elections, previously scheduled for September next year, will have to be held in May, as indicated by the head of the Afghan parliament, Yunus Qanuni, in accordance with the country's constitution. Obviously, it is precisely the beginning of the election campaign that should explain Karzai’s call to determine the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. This demand is very popular among Afghans, and for Karzai, who is planning to run for a second term, it is extremely important to win the support of the population. In addition, the unconditional withdrawal of foreign military personnel is the condition on which the Taliban are ready to begin negotiations with the Afghan government. And although Karzai himself recently called this condition “unacceptable”, since “the presence of troops is still necessary for the country,” there is no doubt that the change in the rhetoric of the Afghan president is explained by the desire to show that he is an independent politician, and not a “puppet” of the United States, as he is represented by radical wing of the Taliban.

There is another reason spurring Karzai to take a more decisive position on the issue of foreign military presence in the country. And it is also connected with the upcoming elections. The current President of Afghanistan may have serious rivals in the fight for the top post - a well-known American diplomat of Afghan origin, the current US permanent representative to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad , and the former Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the first Karzai government, also an American and ethnic Afghan, Ali Ahmad Jalali. Khalilzad, as a member of the UN Security Council delegation, met these days in Kabul not only with Karzai, but also with one of the leaders of the former Northern Alliance of Afghanistan, the country's first vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud, the younger brother of the legendary Mujahideen Ahmad Shah Massoud.

At this meeting, as reported by the Bakhtar agency, preparations for the presidential elections were also discussed. The intrigue of this meeting is given by the statement made the day before by Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of the National Front of Afghanistan (NFA), which united former members of the Northern Alliance. He denied reports that the Popular Front would support Khalilzad in the elections, adding that the front would name its candidate in the near future. According to Afghan analysts, Mr. Rabbani is most likely disingenuous and is waiting for signals from Washington as to which candidate the new US leader Barack Obama will support in the presidential elections in Afghanistan. The head of the Russian Center for the Study of Contemporary Afghanistan, Omar Nessar, told Vremya Novostey that the American factor in the Afghan elections is extremely important and it is no coincidence that Hamid Karzai claims that Obama supports him, citing a telephone conversation that took place on November 23 with the future owner of the White House. However, as Afghanistan.ru reports, Barack Obama spoke only about supporting Karzai in the fight against terrorism and in efforts to restore the country.

Arkady DUBNOV