Karzai’s authority
Tolafghan, Kabul
The helpless people of Afghanistan elected Hamid Karzai as their leader because they were fed up with warlords and armed militancy. Karzai had promised that he would rid the people from the scourge of war. The Afghans believed him and voted for him. After a few years, on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, a lady from the suburbs of Kabul informed Karzai that armed people broke into her house, killed her son, cut off her finger to extract a ring and robbed the family of all valuables. The traumatised victim wanted justice. Another lady asked the president why her sons were killed for money. Karzai’s response was simple: that his government was unable to hold armed militants and warlords accountable.
This is the same Karzai who had once raised the slogan of bringing the warlords to justice. If he is now admitting failure then it must be asked why he took on the responsibility of bringing these plunderers and killers to justice in the first place. It is unlikely that Karzai and his government are unable to establish the writ of the state; however the fear of coming under fire if he takes action against warlords, militants and former jihadis may be stopping him. The people of Afghanistan have come to know that in the past Karzai has been involved in the so-called ‘jihad’ for American dollars and is involved again… to earn dollars for himself and his cronies.
The US and Karzai have their own interests in this state. Both are probably not interested in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan. If they wanted, they could have achieved something by now. Six years is a long time and Karzai could have done substantial work for helpless Afghans. Instead, he seems to be more interested in bringing his cronies to power. The Afghans elected Hamid Karzai as president, but now it seems that Qayum Karzai, Muhammad Wali Karzai, Jamil Karzai, Mehmud Karzai, Shah Wali Karzai, Hikmat Karzai and all other Karzais will rule the roost in the beleaguered country. Some of them are involved in drug trafficking while others are involved in land grabbing. When a journalist asked Hamid Karzai about his brothers and cousins being involved in illegal trade, he retorted by saying that the allegations did not have an iota of truth. Karzai also said that all of them had their own business in the US and had come with the US forces to do business in their own land.
In a nutshell, Karzai and his government have failed to address the issues of the common man. He has been unable to reconstruct state institutions and resolve economic, political and social problems of the people of Afghanistan. He has also failed to bring armed groups to justice and to halt the unbridled actions of Nato forces in Afghanistan. — (June 27)