E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Afghans Greet Karzai During Ghazni Visit
EFL.
GHAZNI - Cheering crowds stood atop buildings and lined the streets to greet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a one-day visit Thursday. Karzai hopped out of a motorcade several blocks from the governor's mansion, moving through the crowd, his arms raised as the throngs pressed around him. He also mounted a horse to play the traditional game of bushkazi.
Wonder whose head was used? Hek, buddy, you all there?
It was a meaningful show by the populist president whose government controls only the capital, Kabul, which is patrolled by a 5,000-man international peacekeeping force. Karzai's chief of staff, Said Tayeb Jawad, said the Ghazni visit was part of the president's efforts to meet with his people and assess their needs. ``He came to find out how the reconstruction process is going and what the people need,'' said Jawad, who was with Karzai on the trip. ``We'll be doing this in all of the provinces.'' Security was extremely tight.
No, really?
Assuming they even announced it was going to take place, the jihadis were probably turning themselves inside out to figure how to bump him off...
Karzai arrived in a field outside town aboard a Chinook helicopter, which was escorted by two U.S. attack helicopters on the 30-minute flight. His U.S. bodyguards were omnipresent as the president moved through the town, and several armed bodyguards looked down from the roof of the two-story governor's mansion while Karzai was inside. After meeting with Gov. Asadullah Khalid, Karzai was to visit a television station and a school in Ghazni, 95 miles southwest of the capital, according to Malang Shah, a security official at the palace.
Show the flag, kiss the babies, whack the Taliban — yep, Karzai's a politican allright.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-05-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=14849