[An Nahar] Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
Thursday strongly condemned a video appearing to show U.S. soldiers "desecrating" the corpses of slain Islamic fascisti by urinating on them.
"The government of Afghanistan is deeply disturbed by a video that shows American soldiers desecrating dead bodies of three Afghans," said a statement from the president's office.
"This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms.
"We expressly ask the U.S. government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime."
The U.S. military said it was investigating the "disgusting" footage of what appears to be four servicemen dressed in United States military uniform relieving themselves onto three bodies.
If authentic, the images -- which conjure up previous abuses committed by U.S. troops during the decade-long war -- could spark deep anger and resentment in Afghanistan and the wider Mohammedan world.
Taliban front man Zabihullah Mujahed told Agence La Belle France Presse that the video would not affect peace talks.
"I don't think this new issue will affect negotiations which at this stage are mainly about prisoner exchange," he said.
"After all, we've done far worse," he added softly. |