Home >> South Asia >> Afghanistan

     Email   Print 

No Longer a Dream: Karzai’s Rude Awakening

Nasir Shansab - 6/27/2008

Early in the morning on June 12, 2008, Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, awoke in his satin-covered bed in the spacious, elegantly furnished room in which his host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had put him up.

He felt depleted. He no longer sensed the elation he had felt in January 2002 when the world’s rich and powerful had assembled in Tokyo to bankroll his newly formed government. After an initial hesitation, giants, such as Colin Powell, then U.S. Secretary of State, had looked at him with admiration. The smiles he had observed all around seemed genuine. He felt they had accepted him as one of their own; they truly cared for him; they wanted him to succeed. In Tokyo, the press had praised his silk Chapan and fine karakul hat, calling him elegance personified. Some went so far as to describe him as bigger than life; yet others depicted him as the darling of the West. Over the years, he had been celebrated as a champion of peace in a neighborhood of thugs and criminals. He was the local hero in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Reportedly, he had even been considered for the Nobel peace price.

Now, six years later, it all had turned differently. No one seemed to notice his unique attire. It hurt him deeply to sense that much of the friendliness directed at him, seemed forced, the hugs superficial, the civility—well, just that, good manners that members of modern societies display even at a court of law, when two deadly enemies come face to face.

What in God’s name had happened?

No one could make him responsible for the Taliban’s resurgence. That is Pakistan’s doing! Pakistan, what a ghastly place and a crooked government, a country that should have never been. And the Americans! What an unreliable bunch they are. They've always had a preference for Pakistan. No matter who was at fault, they always sided with Pakistan.

Mr. Karzai shook his head and sat up abruptly. He couldn't afford to display anger, he chastised himself. The only thing he had going for himself was his smiling face and good humor. These were qualities, the Americans and Europeans loved. Anger, coming especially from his corner of the world, was a deadly sin. Once the West had turned away from you, it would never ever give you a friendly nod. Mr. Karzai couldn't afford that. Someone had to pay his bills. Besides, not everything was lost. Thanks to President G.W. Bush, Mr. Karzai’s mentor and powerful backer, he'd had another shot at salvaging
his position and perhaps even persuading the Americans to let him be president for another term.

Yes, thank God, he wasn't facing complete disaster at the donor conference later that day. President G.W. Busch had leaned heavily on his coalition partners, persuading the rich industrialized nations to step up to the plate: one more time, at least. While total disaster had been prevented, the fifty billion dollars Mr. Karzai had come to ask for would be slashed and slashed deeply. He knew that; he wasn't that dumb. The question was by how much. Anything below twenty billion would confirm to those Mujaheddin leaders surrounding him that Mr. Karzai was weak and had been abandoned by the West. Mr. Karzai couldn't afford that either. He knew that, too.

Those very Mujaheddin leaders, the warlords, all self-proclaimed religious personalities with thousands of armed men at their command would be at his throat instantaneously should they discover that America and NATO no longer stood behind him.