Word: karzai
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Hamid Karzai is a hard man to see. Even for those who gain access to the Presidential Palace in Kabul, his office is nearly invisible, tucked into the corner of a two-story building and marked only by a plainclothes security guard who sits outside its wooden door holding a machine gun. The interior of the office is adorned with large Afghan rugs, cream-colored sofas and a marble fireplace; behind Karzai's desk is a bookcase that prominently displays the collected writings of George Washington. From the serenity of that perch, it's tempting to gaze down...
...Afghanistan, peace is still an illusion. Minutes before we are ushered in to meet Karzai, a distant blast shakes the windows of the palace. When he opens the door, he's in a typically affable mood, joking with his advisers, offering visitors coffee and apologizing for having a cold. As Karzai sits down for the interview, Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghan intelligence, appears. "The chief of the spooks! How are you--good?" Karzai asks. But he knows the news is bad. The two men retreat into a back room, where Saleh tells him that a suicide bombing near...
Since becoming Afghan leader nearly five years ago, Karzai has been the face, voice and guiding spirit of the new Afghanistan, an urbane antidote to the depraved rule of the Taliban. In 2004, bolstered by billions of dollars in Western aid and the firepower of 18,000 U.S. troops, Karzai won Afghanistan's first presidential election in a half-century. Since then, nothing has gone right. Taliban guerrillas have overrun swaths of territory in the south, sparking a battle for control with NATO forces that has left 55 Western troops dead in five weeks. Squabbles between Western military commanders...
...TIME: The way you describe those who are attacking the engineers, it indicates that it could be either external elements or it could indicate a division within Afghan society itself, about what the future of the country should be. Karzai: No, it isn't. Within Afghanistan it is very clear as to what the Afghan people want this country to be. Eight and a half million Afghans participated in the elections. That's very clear. That's almost half of Afghanistan's population. We have a parliament. The whole country got together to have a constitution. The whole country cried...
...Karzai: This is a very important question. Look. I want to leave a legacy for this country. A legacy of democratic transitions. Of power from one person to another. Nelson Mandela set a very good example of completing his four years term and not doing it again. Had he wanted to stand again he would have definitely won. South Africans would have voted for him. But he wanted to set an example of democratic transitions and of new generations emerging. My worry for Afghanistan is whether we will have leaderships emerging in this country to carry on the task...