Hamid Karzai

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Afghan Parliament Rejects Karzai Cabinet

In big rebuke, it blocks 17 of 24 names

(Newser) - Afghanistan's parliament dealt a stinging rebuke to President Hamid Karzai today by rejecting 70% of his nominees for a new cabinet. The voting ended with the rejection of 17 of 24 nominees, including a powerful regional warlord. "I think, unfortunately, that the criteria were either ethnicity or bribery or...

American UN Envoy Plotted to Oust Karzai

Scheme to force out Afghan president as fraud surfaced

(Newser) - The No. 2 United Nations official in Afghanistan sought to replace Hamid Karzai with a more Western-friendly figure as widespread election fraud surfaced earlier this year, officials say. The top UN official in Kabul, Kai Eide, says Peter Galbraith approached him with a plan to enlist Joe Biden to help...

Cocky Karzai Calls Gates' Bluff
 Cocky Karzai Calls Gates' Bluff 
MAUREEN DOWD
Dec 13, 2009 9:01 AM CST

Cocky Karzai Calls Gates' Bluff

Defense sec gets dissed by Afghanistan, Iraq 'puppets': Dowd

(Newser) - Robert Gates may be the man "running the world's best military," a force not inconsequential to stability in Afghanistan these days, but Hamid Karzai thumbed his nose at the defense secretary on his recent visit. "Puppets just aren’t what they used to be," notes Maureen...

Gates, in Kabul, Contradicts Karzai's Timetable

'We're in this thing to win,' he tells reporters

(Newser) - Robert Gates and Hamid Karzai seemed to contradict each other at a press conference in Kabul today, with Gates saying the US commitment in Afghanistan isn’t open ended, and Karzai saying it will be at least 5 years before Afghanistan is ready for a US withdrawal. Gates arrived in...

Gates: 'Years' Since Last bin Laden Intel
 Gates: 'Years' 
 Since Last 
 bin Laden Intel 

TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Dec 6, 2009 1:10 PM CST

Gates: 'Years' Since Last bin Laden Intel

White House pushes Afghan policy on Sunday circuit

(Newser) - The US hasn't had credible intelligence on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in "years," Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted to ABC's George Stephanopoulos today. "We don’t know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is," the defense secretary said. "If we did, we’d go...

Karzai: I'd Meet With the Taliban

Al-Qaeda not welcome, but not all Taliban members are terrorists, he says

(Newser) - Just two days after President Obama announced a 30,000 surge in troops for Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai reiterated his desire to make peace with the Taliban. In an interview with the AP today, the Afghan president said he would do "whatever it takes" to bring peace, including meeting with...

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies
Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies
Dexter Filkins
Dec 2, 2009 8:49 AM CST

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Surge relies on corrupt Karzai government, poorly-trained military

(Newser) - By announcing an 18-month timetable, Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet for an Afghan government and military that have so far proven unreliable. Hamid Karzai’s government is considered among the world’s most corrupt, but Obama seems to be betting that the withdrawal timetable will encourage it to...

Obama Talks Afghan Strategy With Karzai

Morning videoconference pleased Afghan president, sources say

(Newser) - President Obama spent an hour on the phone with Hamid Karzi this morning to discuss the new US policy for Afghanistan, a spokesman for the presidential palace reports. A close confidant of Karzai's who was with the Afghan president following the call said Karzai was happy with the videoconference conversation...

Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy

Kandahar official survives attack on holiest Muslim holiday

(Newser) - The governor of Kandahar narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded underneath his convoy. Turyalai Wesa was on his way to prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the holiest holiday on the Muslim calendar. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, a violent Afghan hotspot, and...

US, Afghans Recruit Taliban With Jobs

Drive will be similar to the 'Sons of Iraq' program

(Newser) - Afghanistan has launched an initiative to convert Taliban foot soldiers with the promise of jobs and protection. Backed by the US military, the plan is modeled on its “Sons of Iraq” program; Stanley McChrystal even lured a key architect of that program out of retirement to help with it....

Karzai Sworn In, Vows to Fight Corruption

Afghan prez promises to take over country's security in 5 years

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai vowed to fight corruption today after he was sworn in to a second 5-year term as president of Afghanistan. Karzai, whose election victory was tainted by widespread allegations of vote-rigging, said his government would learn from "our mistakes and shortcomings of the last eight years." The...

Clinton Makes Surprise Afghan Visit
 Clinton Makes 
 Surprise Afghan Visit 
KARZAI INAUGURAL
Nov 18, 2009 7:40 AM CST

Clinton Makes Surprise Afghan Visit

Secretary arrives amid heightened security, meets with McChrystal

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton made an unexpected appearance in Afghanistan today to attend the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai and meet with Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It's Clinton's first trip to Afghanistan since becoming secretary of state. Clinton called the visit "a specific opportunity for everyone to take stock of where we...

In Afghanistan Debate, Obama Focuses on Exit
In Afghanistan Debate, Obama Focuses on Exit
Analysis
Nov 17, 2009 8:15 AM CST

In Afghanistan Debate, Obama Focuses on Exit

White House wants to make sure surge will enable handover

(Newser) - The Obama administration’s extended ruminations on an Afghan surge aren’t really over how many troops to send in—they’re about how they’ll get those troops out. Obama’s main problem with the initial military plan was that it seemed too open ended, administration sources tell Gerald...

Clinton: Karzai on the Hot Seat
 Clinton: Karzai on the Hot Seat 
TALK SHOW ROUNDUP
Nov 15, 2009 10:51 AM CST

Clinton: Karzai on the Hot Seat

White House 'will expect more,' focused on defeating 'those who attacked us'

(Newser) - It's time for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to put up or shut up, Hillary Clinton said today, underscoring the White House's heightened expectations of Kabul. "We are expecting there to be a major crimes tribunal, an anti-corruption commission," she told This Week, adding that the original Afghan mission...

US to Karzai: Clean Up Corruption or ... Nothing
US to Karzai: Clean Up Corruption or ... Nothing
No Leverage dept.
Nov 12, 2009 11:59 AM CST

US to Karzai: Clean Up Corruption or ... Nothing

Threatening troop withdrawal like threatening suicide: 'stupid'

(Newser) - President Obama is gravely serious about pressuring Hamid Karzai to reel in Afghan corruption—but has almost zero “or else” options. The most logical threat to entice Karzai to clean up his government, pulling out US troops, is “stupid,” a former ambassador tells the New York Times...

Obama Rejects Afghan War Options

President wants modified plans, timetables

(Newser) - President Obama refused to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented to him in yesterday's 2 1/2 hour strategy meeting, the AP reports, as concerns soar over the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the ability of a corrupt Afghan government to eventually secure its own country. Obama...

US Ambassador Disagrees on Afghan Troop Surge

Wants Karzai government to shape up first

(Newser) - The US ambassador to Afghanistan—a former general who served there as recently as 2007—is against increasing troop levels until the Afghan government gets its act together. In classified cables ahead of President Obama’s deliberations on a surge, Karl Eikenberry cites rampant corruption and mismanagement in Hamid Karzai’...

Karzai's Not So Bad&mdash; By Afghan Standards
Karzai's Not So Bad—
By Afghan Standards
BRET STEPHENS
Nov 10, 2009 1:23 AM CST

Karzai's Not So Bad— By Afghan Standards

Blame NATO missteps, not corruption

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai's no saint but he's much better than Mullah Omar, civil war, or the murderous Soviet stooges that ruled Afghanistan for many years, writes Bret Stephens. It has become fashionable among "neo-neo-cons" who have suddenly discovered the virtues of good governance to slam Karzai's tainted administration, but history...

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge
 Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge 
AFGHAN STRATEGY REVIEW
Nov 8, 2009 9:18 AM CST

Obama Eyes 30K+ Troop Surge

Said to be close to decision as Asia trip looms

(Newser) - President Obama is zeroing in on an Afghanistan strategy that likely includes sending in some 30,000 troops, reports Reuters —short of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's requested 40,000, but far greater than war-weary Democrats may support. An additional 4,000 trainers are likely to be sent, McClatchy reports, with...

Afghan Governor Rejects Karzai Election

Dispute could spark fresh fighting in northern province

(Newser) - A powerful warlord-turned-governor's rejection of Hamid Karzai's election victory is raising fears that one of Afghanistan's most stable provinces could collapse into fighting. Atta Mohammed Noor—the only one of Afghanistan's 34 governors to have openly supported Karzai's rival, Abdullah Abdullah—has denounced Karzai as an "unlawful president."...

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