Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai (1957-) is the President of Afghanistan. A member of the Popalzai tribe of Durrani Pashtun born in Kandahar, he is related to the last king, Mohammad Zahir Shah. His post-secondary studies were in India.

Karzai, since he assumed the interim presidency in 2001, has had to carry out a continuing balancing act. The Northern Alliance forces that overthrew the Taliban were primarily non-Pashtun, with some of the top leaders being Tajiks. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are by no means between two stable countries, but with constantly shifting factions. While the U.S. and other Western powers had much to do with his gaining power and continuing both security and economic assistance, he cannot be seen as too Westernized by his own constituencies; indeed, being criticized by the West may even help him at times.

The Bonn Conference named him interim president, taking office in June 2001, and he was elected to a five-year term in 2004. In December 2001 Mr. Karzai was named chairman of an interim government that replaced the defeated Taliban, making him the leader of Afghanistan. The Taliban attempted to assassinate him in April 2008.

In August 2009, he faces a new election. The New York Times said a private poll, in May, suggested 85 percent of the electorate plan to vote for someone else. The Times observed, however, that he remains the strongest politician in the country.

The West, indeed, criticizes. While he took office during the George W. Bush Administration, Barack Obama, during the campaign, called him ineffective.

No solution to Afghanistan is possible without a solution to issues in Pakistan. Karzai and Pakistani Prime Minister Zardari held a three-way summit with Obama in May 2009.

Soviet invasion
He was a student outside Afghanistan at the time of the Soviet invasion. After receiving his master's degree in international relations in 1983, he went to Peshawar, Pakistan, and joined the Political Office of the National Liberation Front led by Professor Sebghatullah Mujadidi. After the formation of the transitional government of the Mujahideen in 1989, he was appointed Director of the Foreign Relations Unit in the Office of the President of the Interim Government.

He became Deputy Foreign Minister in the post-Soviet government, but resigned as the Taliban took control.

Resistance to the Taliban prior to 2001
Selected to succeed his father as Khan of the half-million Popalzai. He defied both the Pakistan and Taliban governments by leading a convoy of tribal mourners to carry his father's body home for burial in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban. The This act of defiance made Hamid Karzai the most visible leader of resistance to the Taliban among the Pashtun people.

Actions after 9-11 attack
He entered Afghanistan from Pakistan, with 4 men, on October 8-9, and, over the next 20 days, met with local groups, and assembled a force of perhaps 50 men. He had been told "You must come with strength. Go to the United States, come back with the resources and money and weapons, and all that, and begin from a point with strength and then we'll do that. But if you just take the population and march it on the cities, they will take the cities, but then they would also get killed. Why should the civilians suffer?" Karzai used his satellite telephone to call the U.S. consulate and ask for support. Within a day or two, he designated his position, and large amounts of weapons and supplies were parachuted to him, greatly increasing his status. Soon afterwards, he asked for advisers, and ODA 574 flew to him on November 14.

Initial Presidency
On assuming the interim presidency, he needed to establish a balance among the various ethnic groups. The immediate problem was seen as an overrepresentation of Tajiks, who held ministries including defense, foreign affairs, and the interior.

In the first attempt to find balance, he kept the defense minister, Muhammad Qasim Fahim and also naming him one of three vice presidents, but appointed a Pashtun, Taj Muhammed Wardak, as interior minister. Defending the retention of Fahim, "He's the minister of defense... He has people that he has, the coalition is working with him and we have an antiterrorism campaign to complete. We cannot just turn things upside down and bring changes overnight."

Also named as vice presidents were the Hazara leader, Karim Khalili, and Haji Abdul Qadir, the Pashtun governor of Nangarhar. Two of the most powerful regional warlords, the Uzbek general from the north, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Ismael Khan, from Herat in the west, declined to be take vice presidential posts unless they could maintain their regional interests.

Wardak, accrording to Karzai, "...is a man who has experience of provincial matters, who has governed before. Let's give him a chance...We have to have technical people in the interior ministry, to take away the political character of this ministry, and we need a technical and professional minister."

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, another of the influential Tajiks, stayed as foreign minister. Yunus Qanooni, who resigned as interior minister, but stayed in the Cabinet as minister of education.

Another warlord, Padsha Khan Zadran, who defied Karzai and attacked his own town with rockets to try to seize power, was effectively sidelined by the loya jirga, or grand council of 1,600 delegates. The loya jirga voted overwhelmingly for me, Mr. Karzai said. ''And he was there. And he campaigned.''

Mr. Karzai also removed Mr. Zadran's brother, Amanullah, from the cabinet, complaining that he had attended only two cabinet meetings.