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Karzai: I don't need foreign forces in Afghanistan
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says he does not need anymore 'the favor' of the US-led foreign forces in his war-weary country.

"If these forces are coming only to chase the Taliban at the cost of Afghan civilians, of course that's not going to produce any good consequences for us," Karzai said in an interview with al-Jazeera on Friday.

The Afghan president also took a swipe at coalition forces present in his country for their failure to restore security in the war-ravaged country.

"With the international community, I don't have to have their favor. They are here for a purpose, which is the fight on terror, and we are working with them for a purpose, which is the stability and safety of Afghanistan, so we have a common purpose," he said adding "In terms of security we have failed."

He went on to add that the "legitimacy" of his government must be given by "the Afghan people."

"I have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, I have to be legitimate and have the trust of the Afghan people if I am to be a good president."

The president's remarks come after thousands of Afghan people took to the streets to protest the rising civilian death toll by the US-led forces in the country.

Afghans have held several anti-occupation demonstrations in different cities in the past month to show their anger towards the issue. Protesters in Kabul and several other major cities have burned effigies of US President Barack Obama.
The man has been abused by absolutely everyone ever since he took the job. I personally believe that he's been doing his best in an impossible situation, with a couple of relatives who've made the impossible even worse (not mathematically possibly, I know, but the real world doesn't map exactly onto mathematics). It's a tribute to President Karzai's strength that he hasn't taken a flame thrower to a meeting room full of his tormentor-allies.

I do concede the possibility that I'm taking entirely too naive a view of the situation, but even so.

Posted by: Fred 2010-01-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=287500