But criticism soon overshadowed the initial plaudits that showered Karzai, and even earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize. Claims of electoral fraud tarnished Afghanistan's second presidential election with Karzai declared the winner of the vote after challenger Abdullah Abdullah abandoned a run-off. The election of Barack Obama and the exit of his former patron George Bush set the stage for a nasty showdown, as the US launched a massive "surge" and deployed more than , troops to Afghanistan to beat back a rising Taliban threat.
For years, Karzai warned that the heavy-handed counterinsurgency in the Taliban's southern strongholds was only reviving the movement and begged Washington instead to focus their efforts on bringing Pakistan's support for the militants' exiled leadership to heel. Even as the insurgents bombed his capital, Karzai insisted that the Taliban must be brought into the fold, drawing harsh criticism when he called the militants "brothers".
He eventually lost the support of the West, with American officials and the media routinely pillaring him for corruption even as the US dumped billions into an impoverished, agrarian economy that was overwhelmed by the deluge -- making graft all but inevitable.
The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore. Learn more and compare subscriptions content expands above. Full Terms and Conditions apply to all Subscriptions. Or, if you are already a subscriber Sign in. Other options. Close drawer menu Financial Times International Edition.
Search the FT Search. World Show more World. US Show more US. Companies Show more Companies. It is sharia law and that is it. Hashimi said Taliban would also ask former pilots and soldiers from the Afghan armed forces to join its ranks. He did not allay fears that this Taliban regime would be as repressive towards women as it was last time they were in power. That is up to them. In Jalalabad, in north-east Afghanistan, dozens of protesters were attacked by the Taliban as they raised the national flag and lowered the Taliban flag planted by the militants.
Video footage showed the Taliban firing into the air and hitting people with batons. At least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured. In the city of Khost there were also reports of the Taliban firing on protesters against the takeover of the city. The Guardian was informed that the Taliban were checking documents and forcibly turning some people away from the airport.
0コメント