A distinction must be drawn between "mainstream Taliban", unemployed youths who fight for cash, and "terrorists": Hamid Karzai
My Name
KABUL (AFP) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, whose
fragile government is propped up by more than 100,000
foreign troops, said Friday he does not need "the favour" of
the international community.
The US and NATO have 113,000 troops fighting a Taliban
insurgency trying to topple Karzai and destabilise the war-
torn, impoverished and corrupt country.
With more than 500 international troop deaths in 2009, the
war is becoming more deadly for foreign and Afghan troops
alike as it drags into its ninth year since the Islamist
regime was toppled in 2001.
Diplomats in Kabul say without the Western military
presence, Karzai's government would soon collapse as the
Taliban spreads its footprint across the country and setting
up shadow administrative and judicial systems.
While being propped up by Western forces, set to rise this
year to 150,000, and billions of dollars in annual aid,
Karzai told Al-Jazeera Television his job is "to win the
hearts and minds of the Afghan people".
"I have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, I
have to be legitimate and have the trust of the Afghan
people if I am to be a good president," Karzai said.
"With the international community, I don't have to have
their favour. They are here for a purpose, which is the
fight on terror, and we are working with them for a purpose,
which is the stability and safety of Afghanistan, so we have
a common purpose."
Karzai began a second five-year term in November after being
declared winner of an August president poll that descended
into a ballot-stuffing farce, with investigators finding
about a million votes for Karzai were fake.
In the interview, he said Afghanistan is "a good model" of
democracy and has "done well" in education and economy --
despite the fact that millions of children do not go to
school, extremists' intimidation limits girls' education and
the economy is based principally on the illegal poppy trade.
But, he said, "in terms of security we have failed".
As the US and NATO prepare to send in almost 40,000 more
troops and adjust the war strategy from a concentration on
the battlefield to development and reconstruction, Karzai
said they must also help build Afghan security forces.
"If these forces are coming only to chase the Taliban at the
cost of Afghan civilians, of course that's not going to
produce any good consequences for us," he said.
"We are also seeking that they must provide better training
and equipment to Afghan forces and police so that we can
soon start to take responsibility for the security of our
country."
A distinction must be drawn, he said, between what he called
"mainstream Taliban" -- unemployed youths who fight for cash
-- and "terrorists".
"We don't want to undermine the Taliban, we want them to
come and live a peaceful life in their own country. We want
to undermine the terrorists."
US President Barack Obama has said he wants to begin
withdrawal of troops in mid-2011, conditional on the ability
of the Afghans to the job themselves.
As billions of dollars are poured into training Afghan
security forces, with the aim of boosting the army to
400,000, Obama's announcement is "an incentive", Karzai
said.
"Afghanistan must very soon begin to provide for its own
security... so we should speed up efforts to have our own
forces, security and means to defend our country. I hope our
international partners will support us to that end."
He said a recent militant attack on a US base near the
Pakistan border -- which killed eight people, including
seven CIA agents -- was "condemnable" but used the interview
to criticise foreign troops for civilian casualties.
It is a touchstone issue for Karzai, who in recent weeks has
used it to bolster his own popularity with a populace weary
of war and quick to blame Western forces, though most
civilian deaths are caused by the Taliban.
"I want the NATO countries to understand that the war on
terror is not in the Afghan villages, it's not in the
pursuit of every man that's wearing a turban and has a beard
and is wearing the national dress of Afghanistan.
"These are the citizens of this country and they must be
respected -- and then we will have peace and success," he said.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100108/world/afghanistan_unrest_politics_karzai
Karzai: I don't need foreign forces in Afghanistan
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:16:03 GMT
President Hamid Karzai
http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100108/khan20100108121311312.JPG
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says he does not need
anymore 'the favor' of the US-led foreign forces in his war-
weary country.
"If these forces are coming only to chase the Taliban at the
cost of Afghan civilians, of course that's not going to
produce any good consequences for us," Karzai said in an
interview with al-Jazeera on Friday.
The Afghan president also took a swipe at coalition forces
present in his country for their failure to restore security
in the war-ravaged country.
"With the international community, I don't have to have
their favor. They are here for a purpose, which is the fight
on terror, and we are working with them for a purpose, which
is the stability and safety of Afghanistan, so we have a
common purpose," he said adding "In terms of security we
have failed."
He went on to add that the "legitimacy" of his government
must be given by "the Afghan people."
"I have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, I
have to be legitimate and have the trust of the Afghan
people if I am to be a good president."
The president's remarks come after thousands of Afghan
people took to the streets to protest the rising civilian
death toll by the US-led forces in the country.
Afghans have held several anti-occupation demonstrations in
different cities in the past month to show their anger
towards the issue. Protesters in Kabul and several other
major cities have burned effigies of US President Barack
Obama.
JR/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115635§ionid=351020403
McCain insists US drone attacks are imperative
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:50:49 GMT
Republican Senator John McCain has said that it is
"imperative" to destroy what he called the strongholds of
militants with the help of drone attacks.
http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100108/khan20100108105906718.jpg
"The (drone) attacks are imperative to defeat the enemy,"
DawnNews quoted McCain as saying in a meeting with President
Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad on Friday.
He, however, acknowledged that there were some differences
between Pakistan and the US regarding the issue.
President Zardari has warned the US that its drone attacks
will undermine "the national consensus" supporting the war
on militancy in Pakistan.
Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have been killed
since 2006 in CIA-operated drone strikes in Pakistan,
according to local media.
The attacks were initiated under the former US President
George W. Bush and have escalated under Nobel Peace Prize
winner President Barack Obama.
Although Islamabad has long said the US attacks are counter-
productive and violate Pakistan's sovereignty, there are
reports that US drones take off from bases inside the
Pakistani territory.
JR/DT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115633§ionid=351020401
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