[Dawn] The Afghan president on Wednesday called on his security forces to end incidents of torture and abuse of the Afghan people, a shift from past speeches that have solely blamed Nato troops for the violations in the country. In an address to parliament, 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...
said Afghan forces are also violating their own people's rights, making it harder for him to raise the issue when abuses are carried out by foreigners.
"It's not forgivable ... Our Afghan people are not safe in their houses," because of Afghan troops' treatment, he said. "Why should I blame foreigners?"
The Afghan leader said he did not initially want to believe reports that his own security forces had tortured prisoners, for instance, but that now he was calling on Afghan forces to respect human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
An Afghan government investigation last month found widespread cases of abuse at government-run prisons, backing up the results of a UN investigation that Karzai had initially repudiated.
Karzai's speech is likely to be welcomed by diplomats who have called on him to acknowledge his own troops' responsibility for incidents of abuse.
But with the remarks, the Afghan leader also made a veiled reference to his recent calls for the withdrawal of US special operations forces from Wardak province, neighboring Kabul, because of alleged incidents of abuse by US and Afghan forces there.
US officials have said they are investigating the allegations.
Karzai also called on the Afghan Taliban to acknowledge his offer to open negotiations with them through an official Taliban office, which is due to open in Qatar. The senior Taliban leadership has not responded to the offer.
And in a possibly troubling statement for the international community, Karzai criticised the cost of the last presidential elections, saying that paying for international advisers and enablers drove up the price of each vote to between $30 and $40.