Word: karzai
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...President's anticipated speech to the nation, General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, will testify before Congress along with other Obama national-security heavyweights. They'll have to convince skeptical Americans - as well as NATO allies at a Dec. 7 meeting - that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a solid partner in the war effort. That's a daunting task in light of allegations of corruption enveloping him, including the disputed August election that gave him a second five-year term...
...Pakistan's generals are concerned by what they perceive as growing Indian influence in Afghanistan, through the Karzai government and massive development projects. They also accuse India of using Afghanistan as a base from which to wage a proxy war on Pakistan. Its priorities make the Pakistan army unlikely to turn its fire on the Haqqani and Hafiz Gul Bahadur networks, as Obama is demanding. Instead, the army has revived a nonaggression pact with Bahadur and with Maulvi Nazir - both of which use Pakistani soil as a base from which to wage war on NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan...
Unusually for Karzai, who has in the past burst into tears or exploded with finger-pointing rage during public addresses, the speech was hurried and voiced in a near monotone. He paused only to gently chastise - in English - the late arrival of a dignitary from the United Arab Emirates who then slunk to his chair in shame. Few in the audience were surprised by his pronouncements. They were, said Sima Samar, head of Afghanistan's human-rights commission, to be expected. "But a speech is not enough. We need action," Samar said. "We need to see if his promised reforms...
That is most likely to be the U.S. government's response as well. As part of her unannounced (but hardly secret) visit, Clinton had dinner and a long conversation with Karzai the night before the ceremony and was expected to have delivered strong words. En route to Kabul, she told reporters traveling with her that Karzai's government had started to tackle corruption, "but not nearly enough." Part of that reservation may have had something to do with Karzai's two Vice Presidents also being sworn in, Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Karim Khalili. Both have been accused by Afghan civil...
...vast hall emptied within moments of Karzai's last words. A few guests lingered outside in the crisp air but were eventually pushed aside by workmen rolling up the layers of red Afghan rugs that had been laid over the concrete walkways for the occasion. Ali Seraj, great-grandson of former King Abdul Rahman Khan, Afghanistan's first modern monarch, took a nostalgia-tinged stroll through the nearby rose garden. His great-grandfather had built the turn-of-the-century palace, and Seraj took particular pride in pointing out the beautiful buildings his ancestors had once inhabited. The inauguration hall...