Karzai Contradicts US On Iran
There’s nothing worse than someone you helped into power contradicting you. While President Bush has hailed progress in Afghanistan, it’s leader, President Hamid Karzai, had some choice words about Iran prior to the two meeting that were very interesting. From Agence France Presse…
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a key US ally, contradicted US assessments of the threat posed by Iran and insisted in an interview aired Sunday that Tehran played a beneficial role in his region. “So far, Iran has been a helper and a solution,” Karzai told CNN on the eve of a visit here Sunday to meet with President George W. Bush for talks on the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
“Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror, and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan,” said Karzai, who became president with US backing in 2002.
His remarks differed markedly from the US stance, which sees Iran as a major menace that bankrolls terrorists, supplies arms to insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, and seeks to develop nuclear weapons.”
Now – who to believe? Someone pull out the magic eight ball.
Karzai also commented on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, remarking…
“We are not closer, we are not further away from it,” Karzai said ahead of his two-day summit with President Bush at Camp David, Md. “We are where we were a few years ago.”
There is, of course, the possibility that Bin Laden has a much more powerful magic eight ball. Either that or the invasion of Iraq was so detrimental to the operation to kill or capture him that his continued ability to elude capture is primarily based on the fact that it has become far less of a priority, a revelation that, if true, is rather stunning being that this entire mess began with the notion of neutralizing him following 9/11.
Jane Mayer’s recent piece in The New Yorker entitled The Black Sites
A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program is worth the read. An excerpt…
“The circumstances surrounding the confession of Mohammed, whom law-enforcement officials refer to as K.S.M., were perplexing. He had no lawyer. After his capture in Pakistan, in March of 2003, the Central Intelligence Agency had detained him in undisclosed locations for more than two years; last fall, he was transferred to military custody in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. There were no named witnesses to his initial confession, and no solid information about what form of interrogation might have prodded him to talk, although reports had been published, in the Times and elsewhere, suggesting that C.I.A. officers had tortured him. At a hearing held at Guantánamo, Mohammed said that his testimony was freely given, but he also indicated that he had been abused by the C.I.A. (The Pentagon had classified as “top secret” a statement he had written detailing the alleged mistreatment.) And although Mohammed said that there were photographs confirming his guilt, U.S. authorities had found none. Instead, they had a copy of the video that had been released on the Internet, which showed the killer’s arms but offered no other clues to his identity.”
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August 6th, 2007 at 11:08 am
What Karzai says could be right. Iran is Shia and Al Qaeda and the Taliban are Sunni.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:23 am
The most telling aspect of the current American foreign policy is its propensity to colour only in black and white and then to spend its time promoting its “vision”. Complexities, as with truth, will never be told.
What may be of greatest concern here is that you needed to go to Agence France Presse to find this item. I understand it rated a one time view on CNN, but I couldn’t find the reference even in the NY Times (although perhaps it is buried there somewhere). Similarly, the Independent featured an article this weekend with a prediction from the British Military that the Afghani mission could go on longer then the Irish deployment.
I think its time to only scan pronouncements by Hillier and O’Connor, just to know the latest propaganda, before turning to Europe for actual news.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
[quote]a major menace that bankrolls terrorists, supplies arms to insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, and seeks to develop nuclear weapons.”[/quote]
I like this quote, because it’s a nice description of the US.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
[quote comment="22116"]What Karzai says could be right. Iran is Shia and Al Qaeda and the Taliban are Sunni.[/quote]
Al Qaeda and Taliban are far from Sunni. The Majority of Sunni’s are moderate Muslims - hence they were happy when Saddam, himself a Sunni was in power as the country was secular - not based on regilious law. The Taliban and Al Qaeda hate this. The Shia for the most part are extreme hardcore islamic fundamentalists. Especially the ones from southern Iraq. These are the majority of supporters of Al Qaeda and Taliban.
One of the biggest misconceptions told to the North American people is the partnership between Saddam and Bin Laden - in fact they despised each other - and had Bin Laden been captured in Iraq by the Iraqi army - he would have been killed. Everything Al Qaeda represents is against what Sunni’s want. A lot of the ideals of Al Qaeda & Taliban are similar to Iran - which is why they are lumped together. Although just because you have similar views doesnt mean you have to support each other.. which is what Karzai is saying… there are limits to what is ok even in a fundamentalists view. Which is why Iran may or may not be helping. (or even playing both sides - as a country to the south of us does very often).
August 6th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Most Sunnis are moderate, I never suggested otherwise. However, Al Qaeda and Taliban do come from radical Sunni sects. Saddam was a moderate, hence his dislike of Al Qaeda and vice versa.
Again, I didn’t say this was why Karzai said what he did. I merely floated the possiblity that this might have something to do with it.