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Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai (حامد کرزي, حامد کرزي) (born 24 December 1957) is the current President of Afghanistan, since December 7, 2004. He became a prominent political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001. From December 2001, Hamid Karzai had been the Chairman of the Transitional Administration followed by the Interim President from 2002 until he won the 2004 Presidential election of Afghanistan. Karzai is known for his trademark Karakul hat.

Early years and personal life

Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun of the Popalzai clan of the Durrani tribe, was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He comes from a family that were strong supporters of the former king, Zahir Shah. He has six brothers and one sister. Karzai is well-versed in several languages, including Dari, Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, English and French.

From 1979 to 1983, Karzai took a postgraduate course in political science at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. He then returned to work as a fund-raiser by supporting anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet intervention for the rest of the 1980s. After the fall of Najibullah's Soviet-backed government in 1992, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani.

In 1999, Hamid Karzai married Zeenat Karzai, an obstetrician by profession who was working as a doctor with Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. They have a son born in 2007 named Mirwais. Karzai is known for his trademark Karakul hat.

Involvement in the Soviet war in Afghanistan

Karzai was a member of the Mujahideen and took active part in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. The Mujahideen were secretly supplied and funded by the United States, and Karzai was a top contact for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the time. He had close personal contact with CIA Director William Casey and George H. W. Bush, who was Vice President of the United States. Karzai's brothers immigrated to the U.S. however Hamid Karzai stayed in Afghanistan and Pakistan working for the jihad against the soviet occupation.

Former Taliban supporter

When the Taliban emerged in the 1990s, Karzai was at first one of their supporters but later he broke with them and refused to serve as their U.N. ambassador. However on August 20, 1998, after an attempt by the United States to kill Osama bin Laden with a cruise missile, Karzai said,

...there were many wonderful people in the Taliban.

He lived in exile in Quetta, in Pakistan where he worked to reinstate the Afghan king, Zahir Shah. His father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, was assassinated, presumably by Taliban agents, on July 14, 1999, and Karzai swore revenge against the Taliban by working to help overthrow them. In 2001, Hamid Karzai worked closely with the Ahmad Shah Massoud to help gather support for the anti-Taliban movement.

On February 11, 2005, in an interview with the Oxford International Review, Karzai criticizes the role the U.S. played in empowering the Taliban to take control in Afghanistan. He claims he spent many years before the 9/11 attacks warning embassies about the threat, but the West failed to respond, an act of “neglect, selfishness and short-sightedness." While he highlights the key role the United States and other donors have played in rebuilding and developing Afghanistan, his tone is not without bitterness.

Chairman to Interim President

In the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Mujahideen loyal to the Northern Alliance and other groups worked with the U.S. military to overthrow the Taliban and muster support for a new government in Afghanistan. In October 2001, Hamid Karzai and his group of fighters survived an American "friendly fire" missile attack in southern Afghanistan. The group received injuries and were treated in the United States, Karzai received injuries to his facial nerves as can be noticed sometimes during his speeches.

In December 2001, political leaders gathered in Germany to agree on new leadership structures. Under the December 5 Bonn Agreement they formed an interim Transitional Administration and named Karzai Chairman of a 29-member governing committee. He was sworn-in as leader on December 22. The Loya Jirga of June 13, 2002, appointed Karzai Interim holder of the new position as President of the Afghan Transitional Administration.

After being installed into power Karzai's actual authority outside the capital city of Kabul was said to be so limited that he was often derided as the "Mayor of Kabul". Former members of the Northern Alliance remained extremely influential, most notably Vice President Mohammed Fahim, who also served as Defense Minister.

In 2004 he rejected a US proposal to end poppy production in Afghanistan through aerial spraying of chemical herbicides, fearing that it would harm the economic situation of his countrymen. Moreover, Karzai's younger brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who partially helped finance Karzai's presidential campaign, is rumored to be involved in the heroin trade (although Karzai's family were quite wealthy already from owning well established restaurants in the United States.) The situation was particularly delicate since Karzai and his administration have not been equipped either financially or politically to influence reforms outside of the region around the capital city of Kabul. Other areas, particularly the more remote ones, are currently and have historically been under the influence of various local leaders. Karzai has been, to varying degrees of success, attempting to negotiate and form amicable alliances with them for the benefit of Afghanistan as a whole, instead of aggressively fighting them and risking an uprising.

2004 presidential election

Karzai was a candidate in the October 9, 2004 presidential election. He won 21 of the 34 provinces, defeating his 22 opponents and became the first democratically elected leader of Afghanistan.

As incumbent president Karzai held high name recognition among voters, and was admired by his supporters for his steady leadership during an uncertain post-war period. Other contributing factors to his win may have included his endorsement by US President George W. Bush's administration, the use of US Army transport during his election campaign, the brief one-month campaign season as well as the paucity of news coverage in the country about his opponents. Although his campaigning was limited due to fears of violence, elections passed without significant incident. Following investigation by the UN of alleged voting irregularities, the national election commission on November 3 declared Karzai winner, without runoff, with 55.4% of the vote. This represented 4.3 million of the total 8.1 million votes cast. The election took place safely in spite of a surge of insurgent activity.

Karzai was officially sworn in as President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on December 7, 2004 at a formal ceremony in Kabul. Many interpreted the ceremony as a symbolically important "new start" for the war-torn nation. Notable guests at the inauguration included the country's former King, Zahir Shah, three living former US presidents, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

After winning a democratic mandate in the 2004 election and removing many of the former Northern Alliance warlords from his cabinet, it was thought that Karzai would pursue a more aggressively reformist path in 2005. However, Karzai has proved to be more cautious than was expected.

Ever since Karzai's new administration took over in 2004, the economy of Afghanistan has been growing rapidly for the first time in many years. Government revenue is increasing every year, although it is still heavily dependent on foreign aid.

On September 20, 2006 Karzai told the United Nations General Assembly that Afghanistan has become the "worst victim" of terrorism. Karzai said terrorism is "rebounding" in his country, with militants infiltrating the borders to wage attacks on civilians. He stated, "This does not have its seeds alone in Afghanistan. Military action in the country will, therefore, not deliver the shared goal of eliminating terrorism." He demanded assistance from the international community to destroy terrorist sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan. "You have to look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism," he told the UN General Assembly, and "destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond" the country, dismantle the elaborate networks in the region that recruit, indoctrinate, train, finance, arm, and deploy terrorists. These activities are also robbing thousands of Afghan children of their right to education, and prevent health workers from doing their jobs in Afghanistan. In addition he promised to eliminate opium-poppy cultivation in the country, which helps fuel the ongoing insurgency. He has repeatedly demanded that NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces take more care when conducting military operations in residential areas to avoid civilian casualties, which undermine his government's already weak standing in parts of the country.

In a video broadcast on September 24, 2006, Karzai stated that if the money wasted on the Iraq War was actually spent on rebuilding Afghanistan, his country would "be in heaven in less than one year". In May of 2007, after as many as 51 Afghan civilians were killed in a bombing, Karzai asserted that his government "can no longer accept" casualties caused by the US and NATO operations.

Assassination attempts

September 5, 2002, an assassination attempt was made on Hamid Karzai in Kandahar City. A gunman wearing the uniform of the new Afghan National Army opened fire, wounding Gul Agha Sherzai (former governor of Kandahar) and an American Special Operations officer. The gunman, one of the President's bodyguards, and a bystander who knocked down the gunman were killed when Karzai's American bodyguards returned fire. Recently, some pictures of the U.S. Navy's DEVGRU responding to the attempt have surfaced. Apparently one of their members was wounded.

September 16, 2004, an attempted assassination on Karzai took place when a rocket missed the helicopter he was flying in while en route to Gardez.

June 10, 2007, the Taliban attempted to assassinate Karzai in Ghazni where Karzai was giving a speech to elders. The Taliban fired approximately 12 rockets, some of which landed away from the crowd. Karzai was not hurt in the incident and was transported away from the location after finishing his speech.

April 27, 2008: Taliban insurgents used automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades to attack a military parade that Karzai was attending in Kabul. Karzai was safe, but at least three people were killed, including a parliamentarian, ten-year-old girl and a minority leader, and ten injured. Other attending the event included government ministers, former warlords, diplomats and the military top brass, to mark the 16th anniversary of the fall of the Afghan communist government to the mujahideen. Responding to the attack during the ceremony the United Nations said the attackers "have shown their utter disrespect for the history and people of Afghanistan."Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack stating, "We fired rockets at the scene of the celebration." He went on to say there were 6 Taliban at the scene and that 3 were killed. "Our aim was not to directly hit someone," Mujahed said when asked if the intention was to kill Karzai. "We just wanted to show to the world that we can attack anywhere we want to."

Relations with USA, Iran and Pakistan

In a January 2008 interview, Karzai expressed his feelings towards America by stating: "if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to America, then let that be my nickname.

Although the Bush administration in USA often charge that Iran has been meddling in Afghanistan's affairs, Karzai stated that Iran is a "very close friend" of Afghanistan despite accusations of Iranian-made arms being found in Afghanistan.

In August 2007 Karzai contradicted US assessments on Iran's role in Afghanistan by saying that Iran has been "a helper and a solution. Karzai added that "Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror, and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan..." Also in the same month, on August 5, 2007, Karzai was invited to Camp David in Maryland, USA, for a special meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush.

In October 2007, Karzai rejected Western accusations against Iran, stating, "We have resisted the negative propaganda launched by foreign states against the Islamic Republic and we stress that aliens' propaganda should not leave a negative impact on the consolidated ties between the two great nations of Iran and Afghanistan." Karzai added, "The two Iranian and Afghan nations are close to each other due to their bonds and commonalities, they belong to the same house and they will live alongside each other for good."

In late December 2007 Karzai and his delegates went to meet President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, Pakistan, for new trade ties and intelligence sharing between the two countries. Karzai also met and had a 45-minute talk with Benazir Bhutto on the morning of December 27, hours before her trip to Liaquat National Bagh where she was assassinated after her speech.

Talks with the Taliban

In April 2007, Karzai acknowledged that he spoke to the Taliban about trying to bring peace in Afghanistan. He noted that the Afghan Taliban are "always welcome" in Afghanistan, although foreign militants are not.

In September 2007, Karzai again offered talks with the Taliban after a security scare forced him to end a commemoration speech.Karzai left the event and was taken back to his palace, where he was due to meet visiting Latvian President Valdis Zatlers. After the meeting the pair held a joint news conference, at which Karzai called for talks with his Taliban foes. He made no reference to the security scare. "We don't have any formal negotiations with the Taliban. They don't have an address. Who do we talk to?" Karzai told reporters. He further stated: "If I can have a place where to send somebody to talk to, an authority that publicly says it is the Taliban authority, I will do it."

Criticism

Hamid Karzai had associations with the Taliban in the past and was trying to negotiate with them. He also attempted to negotiate with former Prime Minister of Afghanistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but the offer was rejected by Hizb spokesman, Haroon Zarghoon. Zarghoon claims that until there is a, "clear date for pullout of foreign troops" there can be no deal with the Afghanistan government. Hamid Karzai has also been criticized for protecting Pashtun drug lords and poppy farmers in southern Afghanistan, where his political base lies as well as for blocking poppy crop aerial eradication efforts.

Unocal connection

Karzai has been the talk of many conspiracy theories over his supposed consultant work for the infamous Union Oil Company of California aka Unocal a now defunct oil company. Spokesmen for both Unocal and Karzai have denied any such relationship, although Unocal could not speak for all companies involved in the consortium. The original and only claim that Karzai worked for Unocal originates from a December 6, 2001 issue of the French newspaper Le Monde.

Honorary degrees and awards

An honorary doctorate in literature from Himachal Pradesh University in India, his alma mater, on March 7, 2003.
Honorary British Knight (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George) in June 2003.
On July 4, 2004, Karzai was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his acceptance speech, Karzai stated: "Where Liberty dies, evil grows. We Afghans have learned from our historical experiences that liberty does not come easily. We profoundly appreciate the value of liberty…for we have paid for it with our lives. And we will defend liberty with our lives."
On May 22, 2005, received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Boston University.
On May 25, 2005, received an honorary degree from the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of Nebraska — Omaha.
On September 25, 2006, received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Georgetown University.