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Home Front: WoT

Son of Afghanistan’s former defense minister buys $20.9 million house in US

2021-10-11

[KhaamaPress] Daoud Wardak, son of Abdul Rahim Wardak-former defense minister of Afghanistan- has bought a super luxury house in Beverly Hills, Miami, Florida.

He already owns a $5.2 million Miami Beach condo at the prestigious St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort.

Through his businesses and wealth origins are not publicly well-known, public corporation records show he is the president of a Miami-based firm called AD Capital Group.

Other reports indicated that his older brother Hamed Wardak is also a successful businessman who runs military transportation company NCL Holdings.

The company is based in Virginia but operating primarily in Afghanistan.

The NCL had secured lucrative US government contracts that were reportedly worth $360 million.

Based on the contracts the NCL was protecting America’s supply routes in Afghanistan.

Daoud Wardak buys a house worth millions of dollars at a time as over twenty million people in Afghanistan are hand to mouth and millions of children are malnourished with hundreds of thousands more displaced internally.

Link

Afghanistan

Probe Unearths Luxurious Lifestyle Of Ex-Army Generals

2017-05-13

[Tolo News] A number of Afghan National Army generals, removed from their posts by the incumbent government, have been found to be living the high-life in Kabul mansions, which officials say cost far more than what their monthly salaries would have covered.

All those ghost soldier salaries had to go somewhere...

This comes after TOLOnews started investigating allegations of corruption at the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and found that these generals appear to be living way above their means.

According to the chairman of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOOAC) Ghulam Husain Fakhri, the lack of authentic information on asset registrations among high ranking officials and military generals at the Ministry of Defense has paved the way for large-scale corruption within the security sector.

"The issue is that the intelligence, financial and administrative institutions as well as the people should cooperate with us, but they are not doing so and it hinders our bid to publicize assets declared by officials," Fakhri told TOLOnews.

TOLOnews’ findings reveal that army generals are paid a monthly salary of between 40,000 and 60,000 Afs.

One former general, Sayed Waqif Shah Saeedi was fired a month ago but built a mansion in Kabul. Saeedi had been a personnel officer at the Ministry of Defense.

Another general who lives in a luxurious house at Qargha Lake in Kabul is Aziz Amarkhail. He was once the head of the office of former defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak.

Gen. Saboor, a former intelligence officer for the Afghan Air Force is yet another mansion-owner, as is ex-army chief Gen. Qadam Shah Shaheem who has a big orchard in a suburb of Kabul city.

Shah Aqa Haidari, the former head of the procurement office of the defense ministry is another ex-army general with a mansion in Kabul, the TOLOnews probe found. He was removed from his job over corruption allegations.

Despite continued efforts, TOLOnews could not get comment from these former military personnel.

Link

Afghanistan

Afghan Election Field Down to Nine as ex-Minister Drops Out

2014-03-17

[An Nahar] Former defense minister Abdul Rahim Wardak withdrew from the Afghan presidential election on Sunday in the latest sign of deal-making in the race to lead the country as NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
troops prepare to exit.

Wardak, a veteran military and political operator, has been a senior adviser to 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...
, but he failed to make any impact in the election campaign ahead of voting on April 5.

Nine candidates now remain in the race to succeed Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since 2001 and is constitutionally banned from running again.

The three leading names are former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul
... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France.....
, Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
, who came second in 2009, and former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.

On Sunday Wardak declined to publicly endorse another candidate, though analysts say he could back Rassoul, who is increasingly seen as having the implicit support of the outgoing president.

"Our campaign was not vigorous from the very beginning," Wardak, 68, told a presser in Kabul.

"Today I announce that, without joining any other teams, I withdraw from the presidential election candidacy.

"Reaching power has never been my target (and) I will always remain at my nation's service."

Link

Afghanistan

Karzai Looking Out For Himself: Abdullah

2013-11-25

[Tolo News] Presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
has argued that recent statements and moves by 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...
indicate he is abusing the security pact negotiation process and preparations for the upcoming elections to suit his own interests.

Abdullah's comments came on the last day of the Loya Jirga, in which participants voted to approve the BSA to the Afghan government.

According to Abdullah, Karzai has given mixed messages when it comes to the upcoming elections, asking foreign nations not to interfere in the elections process while also demanding the U.S. guarantee transparency for the elections.

Transparent elections were one of Karzai's preconditions for the signing of the BSA, which would ensure a close military partnership between the U.S. and Afghanistan in the years following the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
troop withdraw in 2014.

On Thursday, at the opening ceremony of the Jirga, Karzai told the some 2,500 participants that he would wait to sign the BSA until after the Presidential elections in April.

Abdullah claimed that Karzai was looking to benefit his preferred candidate by postponing the signing of the agreement.

Abdullah ran for President in 2009 and lost to Karzai after the first round of voting left them dead-even, despite widespread documentation of voter fraud and other electoral improprieties in favor of the incumbent Mr. Karzai.

"We want good elections from the Independent Election Commission and from Electoral Complaints Commission, so what does the recent statement of President Karzai mean? - It means that President Karzai is trying to get approval ratings through this national issue," Abdullah said. "The candidate he is favoring is not and will not be acceptable to Afghanistan."

Abdullah is not the only candidate that has come out against Karzai's apparent move to delay the signing of the BSA. Former Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak has also been a vocal supporter of the accord and critique of the President's decisions.

U.S. officials have urged Karzai to sign the agreement before the end of the year

Peace in Afghanistan is among the new preconditions Karzai has set in front of the U.S. for signing the pact. Abdullah scoffed at this demand, and said that bringing peace to Afghanistan, immediately, was impossible and that President Karzai was simply trying to get the support of the people by setting expectations he himself could not meet.

The April vote will be the first time Karzai cannot run, with his term limitation imposed by the Afghan Constitution.

"Our demand is that the fate of this agreement be decided as soon as possible because the same way the political transition will take place in 2014, security responsibilities will also transfer," Abdullah said. "That is why people are concerned as investments are leaving Afghanistan and unemployment is increasing, corruption has reached its limit and many people think that this year is the last year...it is the responsibility of the President to calm these concerns."

Abdullah elected not to participate in the Loya Jirga this week in Kabul, which saw some 2,500 leaders from around Afghanistan gather to discuss the BSA. He argued the event was illegal and defied logic in determining the future of Afghanistan's relationship with the U.S.

Link

Afghanistan

Initial Election Polling Reveals Three Favorites

2013-10-14

[TOLONEWS] ATR-Consulting and TOLOnews surveyed the residents of Afghanistan's 34 provinces about nominees registered for the spring Presidential election. The survey, after the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) official registration process concluded, revealed that the majority of respondents who had a preference listed Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
as their top choice.

More than 1,300 Afghan citizens responded to the random phone survey of the 34 provinces over the four day period of October 8 to October 12. Seventy-five percent of the participants were from urban areas and women formed 41 percent of the respondents.

All those who participated in the survey answered one simple question: "Who do you think is the best candidate, among all the candidates for the Presidency?"

Half of those interviewed claimed that there is no "best" candidate, or they did not know who it was if there was one. This half of the sample broke down as 38 percent not knowing, and 12 percent claiming there is no top candidate.

Of those who did provide a preference, 21 percent said Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is the "best" candidate. The survey results indicate that most of Abdullah's supporters are women and youth, especially those from urban areas.

Dr. Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Ahmadzai came in second with support from 13.6 percent of preference respondents and Qayoom Karzai
...older brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai. He makes his living as a 'businessman' and presidential advisor...
came in third with 5.7 percent.
I'm guessing he'll be the eventual winner.
Dr. Ghani saw most of his favor coming from men from urban areas, and a regional breakdown of the results suggests his alliance with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum
...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier...
, who is ethnically Uzbek, has served him well in the north and northeastern parts of Afghanistan. Twenty percent of Dr. Ghani's supporters were from north and north eastern provinces.

These results represent a shift from the last election in 2009 in which a survey pegged Dr. Ghani at fourth place with less than one percent of his supporters coming from northern parts of Afghanistan.

Qayoom Karzai, placed third, received most of his support from village youth, and predominantly men.

Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco...
Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf
...Afghan Salafist warlord, owned by Saudi Arabia. He was the guy who invited al-Qaeda to come into Afghanistan and make themselves at home...
fell the forth position with 3.4 percent of respondents naming him as the "best" candidate. Sayyaf's supporters were largely from villages and he received the lowest amount of support from women amongst the top four candidates.

Gul Agha Sherzai
...former governor of Kandahar province. the Taliban got their start protecting people against him...
was in fifth position, receiving 1.1 percent of respondent's preference. His supporters were mostly men.

Zalmai Rasool was next with 0.9 percent. His supporter came largely from urban areas with a large portion being women. He is the only popular nominee who has a female Vice Presidential nominee on his ticket.

Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak landed in seventh place in the survey with 0.8 percent of respondents' support. Those who preferred him were mostly men from both cities and villages.

Of Kabul respondents alone, 24 percent selected Dr. Abdullah, 16 percent Dr. Ghani, three percent Karzai, three percent Sayyaf, one percent Rasool and one percent Wardak. But 36 percent of Kabul residents who participated in the survey did not know and 16 percent said there is no good candidate.

In the central provinces, 30 percent selected Dr. Abdullah, nine percent Dr. Ghani, five percent Sayyaf, one percent Karzai, one percent Rasool, one percent Wardak and one percent Sherzai. Thirty-nine percent said they don't know and 13 percent said there is no good candidate.

In northern Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 26 percent of respondents' support, Dr. Ghani 23 percent, Karzai five percent, Sayyaf two percent, Sherzai two percent and Rasool and Wardak each one percent. Eight percent said there is no good candidate and thirty-two percent said they don't know.

In western Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 27 percent, Dr. Ghani eight percent, Karzai two percent, Sayyaf seven percent and then Sherzai, Wardak and Rasool with one percent each. Fourteen percent of respondents in the West said there was no good candidate and 39 percent said they don't know.

In southern Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah received 21 percent of supporters, Dr. Ghani five percent, Karzai 15 percent, Sayyaf one percent, Sherzai six percent, Rasool two percent and Wardak two percent. Thirty-five percent said they don't know and 13 percent said there was no good candidate.

In eastern Afghanistan, Dr. Ghani saw 29 percent, Karzai 22 percent, Dr. Abdullah seven percent, Wardak and Sayyaf with two percent each and Sherzai one percent. Twenty-eight percent said they don't know and nine percent no good candidate.

Link

Afghanistan

Afghan president Karzai dismisses spy chief

2012-08-30

[Dawn] 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...
on Wednesday announced the dismissal of his intelligence chief ahead of an imminent cabinet reshuffle involving the top security ministries.

The head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Rahmatullah Nabil, was dismissed as Karzai had decided that no intelligence chief could serve longer than two years, the president's office said.

"President Karzai commended the dedication Mr Nabil demonstrated in the job over the past two years and wished him success in the new job he would soon take over as an ambassador to a foreign country," the palace said.

The move follows the ouster of two other top security officials, defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and interior minister Besmillah Mohammadi, by the country's parliament earlier this month.

Lawmakers said they had failed to stop a resurgence in a 10-year Taliban insurgency and cross-border shelling from Pakistain.

A palace official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Mohammadi would be appointed as the new defence minister while his former deputy Mushtaba Patanag would take over as interior minister.

Assadullah Khaled, current minister of border and tribal affairs, would become the new NDS chief, he said.

After Wardak was dismissed as defence minister, Karzai named him as senior presidential adviser on army reform.

Link

Afghanistan

Karzai makes fallen defense minister his adviser

2012-08-14

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed yesterday as senior adviser Abdul Rahim Wardak, the defense minister thrown out of Parliament for alleged security failures, in a move likely to be welcomed by Kabul's Western allies.

Wardak and interior minister Besmillah Muhammadi were dismissed by Parliament earlier this month for what MPs said was their failure to stop a resurgence in the 10-year Taleban insurgency and cross-border shelling from Pakistan. Karzai had allowed the pair to continue serving in an acting capacity, but Wardak resigned a few days later.

He has now been appointed senior presidential adviser on army reform, development and armaments, Karzai said in a decree, calling him a knowledgeable and experienced general.

The appointment will meet with the approval of the US-led international coalition helping Kabul fight the insurgency by Taleban militants who were ousted from power in a 2001 invasion. Coalition commander US General John Allen said in an effusive statement earlier yesterday that: in my mind, he will always be the father of the modern Afghan army.

Wardens extraordinary drive, competence and vision propelled him to leadership positions of the greatest importance, Allen said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Karzai accepts dismissal of security ministers

2012-08-06

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai accepted on Sunday a vote by the country's parliament to dismiss his two top security ministers, but ordered both to remain in their jobs pending replacement, a move aimed at safeguarding fragile stability. The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Muhammadi after recent insurgent assassinations of senior officials, as well as cross-border fire incidents blamed on Pakistan, an inflammatory issue for many Afghans.

While the ministers remain in place for now, the uncertainty could complicate NATO plans to hand security responsibilities to Afghan forces before the end of 2014, as both positions are crucial to the 11-year war against insurgents as Western countries draw down their military presence. Karzai, who chaired a Sunday meeting of Afghanistan's National Security Council, issued a statement saying replacements of both ministers would be brought in according to the law. Karzai can keep both ministers in their jobs for months if he chooses, and as he previously has done after parliamentary votes to reject his choices.

Those moves may have alienated lawmakers whose cooperation he needs if he is to crack down on widespread corruption within his unpopular government in order to help guarantee up to $16 billion worth of aid promised by his Western backers.

Link

Afghanistan

Afghan Parliament Votes to Dismiss 2 Top Ministers

2012-08-04

Afghanistan's parliament voted Saturday to dismiss the country's defense and interior ministers.

Parliament had expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
s after questioning the two about security lapses, including cross-border attacks blamed on Pakistain.

Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismullah Mohammadi were the top ministers in 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...
's Cabinet. Their dismissal comes even as Karzai is trying to show stability in his government ahead of the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan.

Link

India-Pakistan

Blast kills 19 in Peshawar

2012-06-09

[Dawn]

A kaboom destroyed a bus on Friday, killing 19 people, including seven women and a child, on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, police said.

More than 40 others were maimed in the attack on a bus rented by the government to take staff home after work in the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
It was the deadliest attack in months on Peshawar, which has long been a flashpoint for a local Taliban insurgency targeting government officials, security forces and ordinary civilians.

The city runs into the semi-autonomous tribal belt that US officials consider a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and snuffies fighting both in Pakistain and across the border in Afghanistan.

The kaboom went off in the Daudzai area, killing government employees and other private passengers riding the same bus, officials said.

"The bomb was planted under the bus," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told news hounds.

"We still can't say how many government employees and private passengers were killed, but there were heavy human losses," he added.

Police official Tahir Ayub told AFP 19 people were killed and more than 40 maimed. Another police official, Shafiullah Khan, said seven women and a girl, aged seven, were among the dead.

The kaboom destroyed the back end of the bus. Bloodied pieces of human flesh littered the seats, along with blood-stained clothes on the road lined with juniper trees, an AFP news hound said.

Muhammad Ullah, 48, a police official on the bus, said there was a deafening blast.

"The kaboom triggered massive smoke inside the bus but even then we could feel soft and bloody pieces of human flesh hitting our bodies," Ullah told AFP while being treated for head and shoulder injuries.

Arsalan, a junior clerk in the provincial auditor general's office, said he remembered asking the driver to stop at a mosque on the road for main Friday prayers then the kaboom took place.

"I don't remember what happened next because I fainted and came round in a hospital bed," the 28-year-old, also with head and neck injuries, told AFP.

The attack came one day after a remote-controlled bomb killed at least 15 people outside a madrassa in Pakistain's southwestern city of Quetta.

The country of 180 million sits on the frontline of the US-led war on al Qaeda and since July 2007 has been gripped by a local Taliban-led insurgency, concentrated largely in the northwest.

In the last five years, attacks blamed on beturbanned goon bombers have killed more than 5,000 people according to an AFP tally.

Pakistain's relations with the United States are in disarray and for the last six months, since US air strikes killed 24 Pak soldiers along the border, it has imposed a blockade on NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
supplies crossing overland into Afghanistan.

On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
warned Pakistain that the United States was running out of patience over Islamabad's refusal to do more to eliminate safe havens for snuffies who attack US troops fighting a 10-year war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Panetta made the strong remarks after talks with Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on the latest leg of an Asian tour that took him to Pakistain's arch-rival India, but not Islamabad in a sign of dire US-Pakistain relations.

He singled out the Haqqani network, a Taliban and al Qaeda-linked faction that has bases in Pakistain's tribal district of North Wazoo and which has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

Link

India-Pakistan

US losing patience with Pakistan over insurgent bases, warns Panetta

2012-06-08

[Guardian UK] The US defence secretary has raised the pressure on Pakistain over turban bases along its border with Afghanistan, saying Washington is running out of patience.

"It is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for Orcs and similar vermin in Pakistain," Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
said on a visit to the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"It is very important for Pakistain to take steps. It is an increasing concern, the issue of safe haven, and we are reaching the limits of our patience," Rooters quoted him as saying.

Panetta is on his fourth trip to Afghanistan since taking up his current role, to get an assessment of progress in the war from the top US and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
commander, General John Allen, and to discuss plans for the withdrawal of US troops.

About 23,000 American soldiers are due home by the end of September, leaving 68,000 still in the country. NATO combat troops are due home by the end of 2014, but the pace of the next phase of the withdrawal has not yet been decided.

It depends in part on progress in training Afghan troops and holding off the turbans. The Afghan defence minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, said Pakistain would play a key role in that, and he appealed for more help from his neighbour.

"If that co-operation starts, we will be able to disrupt their command and control, disrupt their training, disrupt their weapon recruitment and also will be able to eliminate or capture their leadership," he said at a joint news conference with Panetta.

"Without doing that, I think our endeavor to achieve victory will become much more difficult," the News Agency that Dare Not be Named quoted him saying.

Insurgent groups fall back across the border to escape bitter weather or heavy offensives, to rest and pick up extra supplies of weapons, food or cash. They have strong bases despite regular forays by US drones into Pak airspace.

The explicit and repeated criticism of Pakistain, after similar complaints during a visit to India, could signal US willingness to up the tempo of the drone strikes. A recent increase in strikes on cut-throats in Pakistain was due in part to frustration with Islamabad, the News Agency that Dare Not be Named said, citing an unnamed senior US official.

Panetta arrived after a day of violence that emphasised the vulnerability of Afghan civilians in the decade-long war. At least 21 people were killed by Taliban suicide kabooms on a bazaar in southern Kandahar city, and another 18 by a pre-dawn NATO air strike on a house where members of a wedding party were staying in the east, Afghan officials said.

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...
, the Afghan president, cut short a trip to China to deal with the aftermath of the attacks, and issued a strong condemnation of the bombardment, which he said claimed 18 innocent lives.

"NATO operations that inflict human and material losses to civilians can in no way be justifiable, acceptable and tolerable," Karzai said in a statement. NATO has said only that it is looking into reports of civilian deaths.

The president has long criticised NATO for not doing enough to prevent the killings of civilians. His critics in turn say he should be stronger in his condemnation of the Taliban's role in pushing up the country's civilian casualty toll. Insurgents are now responsible for more than three-quarters of these deaths, according to UN figures.

Karzai said he was "deeply grieved" by the deaths caused by the Taliban bombing in southern Kandahar city, but he did not condemn the cut-throats or the attack.

Link

Afghanistan

Panetta arrives in Afghanistan, challenges Pakistan

2012-06-07

Fresh off a two-day trip in India to encourage an increased Indian role in Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta arrived unannounced in Afghanistan on Thursday for meetings with military leaders amidst swelling violence (Reuters, CNN, BBC). In remarks to reporters standing alongside Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, Panetta emphasized the increasingly strained U.S. relationship with Pakistan. In unusually blunt language he noted that "it is difficult to achieve peace in Afghanistan as long as there is safe haven for terrorists in Pakistan", singling out attacks by the Haqqani network in particular. He added that "we are reaching the limits of our patience here and for that reason it is extremely important that Pakistan take action."

Whoa. Leon is definitely making the surprise meter twitch...

The visit comes after the deadliest day for civilians in Afghanistan this year as twin suicide attacks killed 23 people in Kandahar on Wednesday, while according to Afghan officials at least 18 civilians were killed as a result of a NATO strike targeting Taliban leaders (NYT, CBS). NATO officials have yet to confirm that any civilian deaths took place, but have opened a joint investigation into the matter with the Afghan government. In response to the NATO strike, Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip to China where he was attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and released a statement saying "NATO cannot justify any airstrike which causes harms to the lives and property of civilians."

Link

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