Hamid Karzai

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Red Cross: US Strike Killed Afghan Women, Children

(Newser) - Many civilians were killed in two Afghan villages hit by a US airstrike on Monday, the Red Cross said today, confirming both "dozens of bodies" and allegations coming from Kabul. “There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies,” a spokeswoman said. “We...

A Doubting Washington Greets Karzai
 A Doubting 
 Washington 
 Greets Karzai 

ANALYSIS
May 6, 2009 7:46 AM CDT

A Doubting Washington Greets Karzai

Afghan president has 'plateaued,' diplomats say

(Newser) - Nearly eight years after the fall of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai comes to the White House today to meet an administration distinctly unimpressed with his governance of Afghanistan. In interviews with two dozen Washington officials, the Washington Post finds anger and frustration with a president overseeing a weak and corrupt...

Stakes Massive Ahead of Obama Af-Pak Summit

Zardari, Karzai in DC as Taliban surge in crumbling Pakistan

(Newser) - Barack Obama begins two days of talks with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan today as his administration faces what may be its first foreign policy crisis: rising militancy in the Swat Valley that threatens to spread across the nuclear-armed nation. Obama and his team are expected to pressure Asif...

Karzai Takes Ex-Warlords as Afghan Running Mates

Qasim Fahim held the post until 2004

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai tapped a former mujahedeen warlord as one of his two vice-presidential candidates today, the New York Times reports. Muhammad Qasim Fahim was Karzai’s vice president from the beginning of his administration through 2004, and still holds sway with political parties made up of former guerrillas....

Afghan Prez Confirms Re-Election Bid

Karzai promises to amend controversial 'marital rape' law

(Newser) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has confirmed for the first time that he will run for re-election in the country's elections this summer, the Times of London reports. Karzai repeated his pledge to amend a controversial law critics say condones marital rape and child marriage, surprising observers who believed he would...

Brown Talks Terrorism With Pakistani PM

Snubbed by Zardari, British PM focuses on tackling extremism

(Newser) - British PM Gordon Brown held talks with Pakistani leaders today, appearing at a joint press conference with his counterpart, Yusuf Raza Gilani, after President Asif Ali Zardari dropped out at the last minute. The BBC attributes the snub to unhappiness with the recent British arrest of 11 Pakistani nationals on...

Afghanistan Changing 'Legalized Rape' Law

Afghan prez says he hadn't been aware law was on the books

(Newser) - Afghanistan will revise a law that critics say legalizes marital rape, President Hamid Karzai tells CNN. Karzai said he was unaware of the provision, part of a 270-page piece of legislation covering the country's 6 million Shiite Muslims. "Now I have instructed, in consultation with clergy of the country,...

Karzai Demands Review of 'Home Rape' Law

(Newser) - Pressure from British and German leaders over legalized rape in Afghanistan has pushed President Hamid Karzai to order a review of a law governing Shiites, Reuters reports. Karzai said the Justice Ministry would scrutinize the Shiite Personal Status Law and send it back to parliament if necessary. But he said...

Critics: Afghan 'Home Rape' Law Worse Than Taliban

Wives can't refuse sex in Karzai nod to right

(Newser) - Critics are blasting a new law in Afghanistan that forbids a woman to refuse sex with her husband or to leave home without his permission, reports the Guardian. The law, opposed by the UN, is viewed as a major step backward for women in a nation whose constitution supports equal...

US Maneuvers to Name Afghan Prime Minister

Part of America's 'exit strategy'

(Newser) - The US is planning to place a prime minister in the Afghanistan government to bypass corruption-tainted President Hamid Karzai, reports the Guardian. American authorities, backed by European allies, also plan to divert money to the provinces away from Karzai control. US officials have grown increasingly disillusioned with the current government...

Karzai Agrees to Postpone Elections Until August

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accepted the recommendation of an independent election commission and will delay the country’s national elections until August out of concern for security and fairness, the Washington Post reports. Karzai's term expires in May, and what will happen in the interim between then and August...

Afghan Elections Delayed; Opponents Call Move Illegal

Karzai opponents call delay illegal, vow to stop recognizing his authority

(Newser) - Afghanistan’s May presidential election will be delayed until August, officials said today, in a decision that appears to contradict the country's constitution. The Afghan election commission said it needed more time to register candidates, set up voting machinery, and ensure security, the New York Times reports, but that didn’...

War, Not Nation-Building, Will Be Obama's Top Afghan Goal

Objectives could strain, even break, US ties with President Karzai

(Newser) - In a departure from Bush policies, the Obama administration intends to ramp up military operations in Afghanistan at the expense of reconstruction, the New York Times reports, shifting the burden of civil work to NATO allies. “If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian...

Karzai Blames US in 16 Civilian Deaths

(Newser) - President Hamid Karzai condemned a US operation he said killed 16 Afghan civilians today, even as his Ministry of Defense sent Washington a draft agreement that seeks to give Afghanistan more oversight over US military operations. The increased rhetoric comes as hundreds of villagers denounced the American military during an...

For Afghanistan, Obama Looks Beyond Karzai

Washington loses patience, courts rivals as election looms

(Newser) - Four key rivals of Hamid Karzai have arrived in Washington for meetings with the Obama administration, as speculation grows that the Afghan president may lose the backing of the United States. Once seen as America's best hope in Afghanistan, Karzai has seen his standing deteriorate as widespread corruption and worsening...

Afghans Infuriated by Gaping Wealth Divide

Corruption fuels scattered elite class

(Newser) - Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world—but while many are forced to beg for change, scattered neighbors are living in mansions, having mysteriously accumulated vast wealth, the Washington Post reports. Stories of drug trafficking, smuggling, and abuse of international aid abound. “All the jobs and...

Outrageous Corruption, Bribery Rule Afghanistan

Obama may have to save government from itself

(Newser) - Before he can defend Afghanistan’s government from the Taliban, Barack Obama may need to save it from itself. Bribery and corruption are astonishingly pervasive in Afghanistan, Dexter Filkins reports in the New York Times. Everything from settling a lawsuit to getting electricity to entering an airport requires a bribe,...

US Will Finance Afghan Militias
 US Will Finance Afghan Militias 
Dec 23, 2008 11:51 AM CST

US Will Finance Afghan Militias

Local security strategy echoes Iraq counterinsurgency strategy

(Newser) - The US will begin funding local militias throughout Afghanistan, an effort to re-create the successful counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Afghanistan historically has been known as a country where local communities took care of themselves,” explained the US ambassador. “The way to counter...

Bush Stops in Afghanistan; Vows Support

Pledges continued US support

(Newser) - Five hours after his final visit to the country that defined his presidency, President Bush landed in Afghanistan this morning for an unsurprising surprise visit on his farewell tour. After a pre-dawn rally with US troops, the president renewed his support of the fledgling democracy in a meeting with President...

Taliban Mullahs Reject Karzai's Offer of Talks

Militants say they won't deal until foreign troops withdraw

(Newser) - Taliban leaders have rejected Hamid Karzai's guarantee of safe passage in exchange for beginning peace talks, reports Reuters. The militants instead reiterated demands for all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan before any negotiating begins—a condition the Afghan president rejected as unacceptable. Some analysts don't see Mullah Mohammad Omar's rejection...

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