YANKEE, GO HOME

by

thelastcrusade.org

Hamid Karzai, the newly re-elected President of Afghanistan, wants US troops out of his country within five years.

Despite the billions of US dollars that have been poured into Afghanistan and the deaths of 922 American soldiers, Mr. Karzai expressed no gratitude to the United States for its part in securing the country and protecting the Afghan people from radical insurgents.

To the contrary, Mr. Karzai, in his second inaugural address, called for a national tribal council to seek peace with the Taliban.

The peace overture negates the primary purpose of the on-going war, which, according to President Barack Obama, is to rid the country of the Taliban presence.

Mr. Karzai made these announcements before 800 guests who had gathered within his highly fortified palace in the heart of Kabul.

He was watched by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, and 300 foreign dignitaries, in a ceremony that was decked with flowers and flags and the presence of ceremonial guards.

Kabul, the Afghan capital, was on a high security alert amid fears the occasion, which has been declared a national holiday, would be targeted by Taliban militants.

The city’s international airport was closed, roads were blocked by checkpoints and the streets were largely free of traffic.

Mr Karzai’s swearing in for another five-year-term comes after weeks of sustained pressure from his international backers to clean up his ineffective and corrupt regime.

Mrs Clinton said as she arrived in Kabul that the country stood at a “critical moment”

She said: “There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai and his government to make a compact with the people of Afghanistan.”

Mr Karzai also reached out to his defeated presidential rivals, inviting them into a government of national unity.

Thanking Abdullah Abdullah, his closest rival, and Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank executive who came fourth in the August 20 poll, he said: “I want to invite both of them to contribute.”

Mr Karzai was declared president by default earlier this month after Dr Abdullah withdrew from a two-man election run off claiming the vote would see a repeat of pro-Karzai ballot-stuffing.