Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
on Saturday called for peace talks with the Haqqani network in Pakistain as he sought to assuage domestic fears over Afghanistan's future partnership with the United States.
Following a recent visit to the region by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton,... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another John C. Calhoun...
Karzai reiterated conditions for the US strategic agreement due to be worked out next month, insisting that US forces must stop raiding Afghan homes.
In an interview with Pakistain's Geo television broadcast on Saturday, Karzai also said that peace talks with the hardline Haqqani network should take place in Pakistain, according to a statement from the presidential palace in Kabul.
"Regarding the grinding of the peace processor, I should say that the Taliban shura is in Pakistain, we all know that Haqqani group is in Pakistain... that is why we clearly insist to talk with our brothers in Pakistain instead of an anonymous and without address Talib," he said.
Ten years into the war in Afghanistan the Taliban's efforts to regain power show little sign of waning, with Clinton this week saying that the US planned to continue the ground fight while simultaneously trying to talk to the Death Eaters.
During her visit, the top US diplomat pressed Pakistain to encourage talks and dismantle orc safe havens on its side of the border, as US and Afghan troops push a new offensive against the Haqqanis in eastern Afghanistan.
But while many Afghans have little trust in their neighbour's role in ending the war, they are also fearful about any long-term US presence in the country following the planned departure of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
Karzai restated Afghanistan's conditions, insisting that American troops must not enter Afghan homes, implying that they should end controversial night raids in pursuit of Taliban targets that have caused many civilian casualties.
"We no longer want any Americans to enter Afghan homes," he said according to the statement.
"We want night raids to stop following the signing of this (strategic) agreement." Foreign-operated prisons must be closed, he added, and arrest of Afghans by foreign forces and operations of private security companies must end.