Karzai and the warlords PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jonathan Krohn   
Tuesday, 05 May 2009 22:26

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is in the United States today, and he is fresh off of angering the more Conservative branch of his country.  The Associated Press reports:

President Hamid Karzai chose a powerful warlord accused of rights abuses as one of his vice presidential running mates on Monday, hours before leaving for meetings in Washington with President Barack Obama and Pakistan's president.

The selection of Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a top commander in the militant group Jamiat-e-Islami during Afghanistan's 1990s civil war, drew immediate criticism from human rights groups.

A 2005 Human Rights Watch report, "Blood-Stained Hands," found "credible and consistent evidence of widespread and systematic human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law" were committed by Jamiat commanders, including Fahim.

Karzai was "insulting the country" with the choice, the New York-based group said Monday.

Fahim served as Karzai's first vice president during the country's interim government put in place after the ouster of the Taliban in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. During the 2004 election, Karzai dropped Fahim from his ticket in favor of Ahmad Zia Massood — the brother of resistance hero Ahmad Shah Massood, who was assassinated by al-Qaida two days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Under Afghan law, the president has two vice presidents.

Did I read that first part correctly?  President Karzai hightailed it over here to meet with President Obama, almost immediately after he picked an extremely RADICAL running mate?  The answer is yes.  A little bit of typical politics, don't you think?  At least he will be able to hold off the wrath of his country's media from him directly a little while longer, but the question that remains as we wait to hear about the meetings between the Presidents is if President Obama will confront President Karzai on his RADICAL running mate.  Will that be on the roster, or will the Presidents only discuss things suitable to each one's political agenda?  I believe it will be the latter.  As we know, both President Karzai and President Obama enjoy playing to their base.  They enjoy preaching to the choir.  Going into the unpredictable territory of confrontation on a controversial issue is a little out of each of their comfort zones, and it is highly unlikely that they will break new ground on this front in their meetings this week.  However, we will wait and see.