Karzai’s outburst that wasn’t

So should Trump be bothered by these latest musings of a former flamboyant leader? The simple and short answer is, yes

Hamid Karzai is a man known for his flair for fashion. He is also known, in certain American quarters, for his penchant for the dramatic. This was inevitable. Even Pinocchio turned on his master.

Indeed, whenever the then Afghan President would berate the Americans who still today hold the country by — if not the strings of yesteryear — just a thread or two, they would seek to cut him down to size. Back in 2010, then UN Deputy Special Representative in Afghanistan Peter Galbraith dropped a most undiplomatic bombshell. Karzai was, in his opinion, a bit of a druggie. Which puts slightly into perspective recent tweets by a particular Chinese diplomat in which he mocked a piece in the Pakistani press that questioned the CPEC balance of advantage.

Today Karzai, still rightly fuming about the American dropping the Mother of All Bombs on his country, unleashed one of his own. The US, he told Russian television, is arming ISIS in Afghanistan. This is similar to what the former president has said in the past. Back in April of this year, he told the Voice of America that the notorious terror group was Washington’s tool. Not only that — he said — as far as he was concerned there was no difference between ISIS and the US.

So should Donald Trump be at all bothered by these latest musings of a former flamboyant leader?

The simple and short answer is, yes. Their significance lies in the fact that they were made to a Russian outlet. Moscow stands accused in certain US security circles of arming the Afghan Taliban, a charge that it denies. Though it must be recalled it was just two years ago that Kabul turned to Putin for help. Meaning to flush out Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Haqqani network and other groups that were said to be “morphing” with a resurgent Taliban. In other words, the Russians were being called in because the US ‘democracy’ project that had envisaged liberating Afghanistan from Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda and the like has been such a resounding failure that those godless Russians were being called in; the very same that the Americans had once driven from Afghan soil. Moreover, President Ashraf Ghani was said to have asked Putin for helicopter gunships and artillery.

But this being Trump town — Iran also stands in the American dock alongside Russia. Except that, according to Defence Secretary James Mattis — it doesn’t. Neither of them do. The day that he landed in Kabul a Taliban rocket hit the airport, the Hamid Karzai International. The attack prompted the latter’s namesake to ask the pertinent question as to how after 16 long years of American warfare — the US couldn’t even secure an airport on the day that the Defence Secretary and NATO chief had arrived.

Yet Mattis appeared to break away from the script when he told the press that both Moscow and Tehran had suffered losses due to the scourge of terrorism. Thus he thought it “extremely unwise to think that they can somehow support terrorists in another country and not have it come back to haunt them”. Yet this somewhat loaded remark hardly represented the defence chief going rouge. More likely this was a thinly veiled dig at the ever tentacle-like Pakistani hand that is seen as being behind any unrest in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, the matter to focus on is the emergence of an extensive black market weapons network that has spread from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Syria. Some of which may or may not pass through NATO member Turkey. What is clear, however, is that most of these have at one point or another come from the US. Just like the reported $2.2 billion in Soviet-era arms and ammunition that have passed between Washington and Syrian rebels fighting ISIS. With American officials themselves confirming that such weaponry does, indeed, end up in the hands of black market dealers.

Thus the thing to note about Karzai’s outburst is that it wasn’t an outburst at all. He is right to question just how ISIS managed to flourish and take hold of Afghanistan right under the nose of the world’s most sophisticated and well-equipped army; not to mention that of the NATO war machine. Thus his claims of unmarked non-military helicopters supplying ISIS fighters must be investigated and must be done so impartially.

If the US doesn’t play ball on this front, this will only further cement Afghan suspicions that it doesn’t plan on leaving this region anytime soon. And that Moscow and Tehran are right — along with Beijing and now, possibly, Ankara — to position themselves as alternative power centres to US regional hegemony that does more harm than good; that, as Karzai says, spreads more extremism than it counters.

 

The writer is a senior

Pakistani journalist

Karzais outburst that wasnt

So should Trump be bothered by these latest musings of a former flamboyant leader? The simple and short answer is, yes

Hamid Karzai is a man known for his flair for fashion. He is also known, in certain American quarters, for his penchant for the dramatic. This was inevitable. Even Pinocchio turned on his master. Indeed, whenever the then Afghan President would berate the Americans who still today hold the country by if not the strings of yesteryear just a thread or two, they would seek to cut him down to size. Back in 2010, then UN Deputy Special Representative in Afghanistan Peter Galbraith dropped a most undiplomatic bombshell. Karzai was, in his opinion, a bit of a druggie. Which puts slightly into perspective recent tweets by a particular Chinese diplomat in which he mocked a piece in the Pakistani press that questioned the CPEC balance of advantage. Today Karzai, still rightly fuming about the American dropping the Mother of All Bombs on his country, unleashed one of his own. The US, he told Russian television, is arming ISIS in Afghanistan. This is similar to what the former president has said in the past. Back in April of this year, he told the Voice of America that the notorious terror group was Washingtons tool. Not only that he said as far as he was concerned there was no difference between ISIS and the US. So should Donald Trump be at all bothered by these latest musings of a former flamboyant leader? The simple and short answer is, yes. Their significance lies in the fact that they were made to a Russian outlet. Moscow stands accused in certain US security circles of arming the Afghan Taliban, a charge that it denies. Though it must be recalled it was just two years ago that Kabul turned to Putin for help. Meaning to flush out Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Haqqani network and other groups that were said to be morphing with a resurgent Taliban. In other words, the Russians were being called in because the US democracy project that had envisaged liberating Afghanistan from Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda and the like has been such a resounding failure that those godless Russians were being called in; the very same that the Americans had once driven from Afghan soil. Moreover, President Ashraf Ghani was said to have asked Putin for helicopter gunships and artillery. But this being Trump town Iran also stands in the American dock alongside Russia. Except that, according to Defence Secretary James Mattis it doesnt. Neither of them do. The day that he landed in Kabul a Taliban rocket hit the airport, the Hamid Karzai International. The attack prompted the latters namesake to ask the pertinent question as to how after 16 long years of American warfare the US couldnt even secure an airport on the day that the Defence Secretary and NATO chief had arrived. Yet Mattis appeared to break away from the script when he told the press that both Moscow and Tehran had suffered losses due to the scourge of terrorism. Thus he thought it extremely unwise to think that they can somehow support terrorists in another country and not have it come back to haunt them. Yet this somewhat loaded remark hardly represented the defence chief going rouge. More likely this was a thinly veiled dig at the ever tentacle-like Pakistani hand that is seen as being behind any unrest in neighbouring Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the matter to focus on is the emergence of an extensive black market weapons network that has spread from Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Syria. Some of which may or may not pass through NATO member Turkey. What is clear, however, is that most of these have at one point or another come from the US. Just like the reported $2.2 billion in Soviet-era arms and ammunition that have passed between Washington and Syrian rebels fighting ISIS. With American officials themselves confirming that such weaponry does, indeed, end up in the hands of black market dealers. Thus the thing to note about Karzais outburst is that it wasnt an outburst at all. He is right to question just how ISIS managed to flourish and take hold of Afghanistan right under the nose of the worlds most sophisticated and well-equipped army; not to mention that of the NATO war machine. Thus his claims of unmarked non-military helicopters supplying ISIS fighters must be investigated and must be done so impartially. If the US doesnt play ball on this front, this will only further cement Afghan suspicions that it doesnt plan on leaving this region anytime soon. And that Moscow and Tehran are right along with Beijing and now, possibly, Ankara to position themselves as alternative power centres to US regional hegemony that does more harm than good; that, as Karzai says, spreads more extremism than it counters. The writer is a senior Pakistani journalist