Word: karzai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...days, Afghan President Hamid Karzai would appear in his swooshing green cape for a weekly videoconference with George W. Bush. But with his flailing presidency seen as a big reason the Taliban and al-Qaeda are regaining ground in Afghanistan, the Obama Administration cut Karzai's White House access earlier this year...
...Afghan elections were supposed to help fix that perception. Instead, they have been marred by allegations of massive ballot-stuffing, mainly (but not exclusively) by Karzai's supporters. Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission has ordered a partial recount, citing "clear and convincing evidence of fraud." Still, whether Karzai wins outright or faces a runoff with his rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, he will almost certainly be re-elected...
...problem is, Karzai's legitimacy is shot. Even before allegations of vote-rigging, many Afghans were angry with him for his failure to curb corruption. The aid community has been dismayed by the warlords and drug traffickers infesting his government. And Washington is fed up with his duplicity and fecklessness. Even though he came to power on the back of a U.S.-led invasion, Karzai has portrayed himself as the one man willing to criticize coalition forces. "Karzai wants his legacy to be an Afghan leader who stood up against the foreigners," says Haroun Mir, director of Afghanistan's Center...
...attempts by Karzai to reach out to Taliban leaders fizzled largely because the Taliban wanted a third-party to act as go-between. The President either sent his brother or a few Taliban defectors who were distrusted by their former jihadi comrades. Mullah Omar broke off talks through Saudi Arabia several months ago, saying that the Taliban would only talk with Karzai once all foreign troops had agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan. Taliban experts say that, if anything, the fraud-tainted elections have damaged Karzai's standing so badly that the Taliban and their supporters in Pakistan no longer...
...Helmand, where coalition forces have encountered fierce Taliban resistance, British officials rightly concluded that many of the Taliban fighters were local tribesmen with grievances against Karzai's personally appointed officials, many of whom were shaking down villagers for bribes. In 2007, A British-led program to rehabilitate Taliban fighters and give them job training was abruptly shut down by Karzai himself, who accused the British of colluding with the Taliban. The situation is complicated by a century and a half of suspicions about Britain's colonial legacy in Afghanistan...