Tuesday, Fred goes to the U.S. embassy for meetings.
Wednesday, Fred goes to the U.S. embassy for meetings.
Thursday, suicide bomber detonates massive car bomb at the entrance of U.S. Embassy.
This job is definitely worth another 5 grand a year.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Whose house
His Excellency President Hamid Karzai has just recently told his supporters from the international community to back up because when it comes to negotiating with the Taliban, Hamid makes the rules, cause Afghanistan is his house and he lives here!
A little background; President Karzai has offered guaranteed safe passage to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to anywhere in Afghanistan, if Omar is willing to negotiate for a peace deal. What makes this tidbit of international politics so juicy is that the U.S., the primary financial and military backer of the fragile Karzai government, has a $10 million dollar bounty on Omar’s head and wants to offer him guaranteed safe passage straight to Guantanamo - do not pass go, do not collect $200 thank you very much. Karzai went so far as to say that the international community had two choices, either accept his offer to Omar or remove him from power. That statement highlights two important points. Firstly, it underscores the desperate situation that Karzai finds himself in. The Taliban is gaining strength by the day, attacks are on the rise and becoming more brazen. Just a couple of weeks ago gunmen attacked the Ministry of Information in Kabul in broad daylight in a coordinated gunfire and suicide bombing maneuver. Members of the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) are taking off their uniforms, picking up their guns, and switching sides to join the Taliban and fight against the government. The latter point underscores just how dependant Karzai is on his international backers to hold the country together at all. It is this charge, that Karzai is beholden to western masters that has been the clarion call of insurgents here, Taliban and otherwise, that seek to topple his government. Karzai is dancing on the edge of a knife and he knows it. He is a truly charismatic figure but it will take more than the strength of his own personal gifts to bring this situation under control. President elect Obama has promised to send anywhere from 7,000 – 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Let’s hope they get here in a hurry.
I have to think that when President Karzai is having an especially bad day, when Kabul is going kaboom! as it does so often these days, and tough decisions of national importance need to made, he closes the door to the President’s office turns on his iPOD and let’s Run-DMC remind him what’s what.
Whose House – It’s Hamid’s House – you better recognize.
A little background; President Karzai has offered guaranteed safe passage to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar to anywhere in Afghanistan, if Omar is willing to negotiate for a peace deal. What makes this tidbit of international politics so juicy is that the U.S., the primary financial and military backer of the fragile Karzai government, has a $10 million dollar bounty on Omar’s head and wants to offer him guaranteed safe passage straight to Guantanamo - do not pass go, do not collect $200 thank you very much. Karzai went so far as to say that the international community had two choices, either accept his offer to Omar or remove him from power. That statement highlights two important points. Firstly, it underscores the desperate situation that Karzai finds himself in. The Taliban is gaining strength by the day, attacks are on the rise and becoming more brazen. Just a couple of weeks ago gunmen attacked the Ministry of Information in Kabul in broad daylight in a coordinated gunfire and suicide bombing maneuver. Members of the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) are taking off their uniforms, picking up their guns, and switching sides to join the Taliban and fight against the government. The latter point underscores just how dependant Karzai is on his international backers to hold the country together at all. It is this charge, that Karzai is beholden to western masters that has been the clarion call of insurgents here, Taliban and otherwise, that seek to topple his government. Karzai is dancing on the edge of a knife and he knows it. He is a truly charismatic figure but it will take more than the strength of his own personal gifts to bring this situation under control. President elect Obama has promised to send anywhere from 7,000 – 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Let’s hope they get here in a hurry.
I have to think that when President Karzai is having an especially bad day, when Kabul is going kaboom! as it does so often these days, and tough decisions of national importance need to made, he closes the door to the President’s office turns on his iPOD and let’s Run-DMC remind him what’s what.
Whose House – It’s Hamid’s House – you better recognize.
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