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| Afghanistan | |
| Karzai intents to keep power after elections - NYT | |
| 2014-04-04 | |
KABUL, Afghanistan -- American officials have ignored him, and Afghanistan's presidential contenders have tried to persuade voters that they will be different from him. But those hoping to see President Hamid Karzai slip into a quiet retirement may be disappointed in the months to come.
Then he blessed two of the three leading contenders with tens of thousands of dollars from his office's slush funds, hedging his bets that at least one candidate open to his influence will make it to a runoff, according to senior Afghan officials. It may be well into June before that second vote can be held, and Mr. Karzai will remain president in the meantime. Few who know Mr. Karzai personally, including some of his critics, see a naked power grab in the president's maneuvering. They say Mr. Karzai is driven by a deep-seated belief that he is Afghanistan's indispensable man, uniquely suited to guide the country through the tumultuous years of transition ahead. That starts with the election, but Mr. Karzai's ultimate aim, the officials say, is to retain influence with the new Afghan administration. On the one hand, Mr. Karzai, who is 56, "wants to leave a legacy and be judged as a true statesman who transferred power peacefully for the first time in Afghanistan," said Daud Muradian, a former foreign policy adviser to the president who now teaches at the American University of Afghanistan. "At the same time, he is being pulled by his Machiavellian side, and he wants to remain relevant in Afghan politics and be the power behind the next president." That may be bad news for Obama administration officials who basically gave up on working with Mr. Karzai after he refused to sign a security deal that would allow American troops to stay past 2014. The leading candidates have all promised to sign the deal if elected, but until then, the United States' relationship with Mr. Karzai is not over -- and he has shown little inclination to hide his disdain. Senior Afghan officials say Mr. Karzai saw in the reports new evidence of duplicity by an ally that he believes has undermined him for years. He was against the troop surge, he felt betrayed by American efforts to unseat him in the 2009 election and, more recently, he has come to believe that the United States is in league with Pakistan, and by extension the Taliban. The ill will is shared by many American officials, who see Mr. Karzai as an unreliable ingrate. But as much as they would prefer to see his influence end, the Americans are still counting on him in one respect: Some hope he can help mediate what is expected to be a messy aftermath of an election season in which candidates have already accused one another of planning to commit fraud and have pledged not to accept the results if they lose. | |
| Posted by:Besoeker |