TOLD YOU SO....
New Afghan Leader Tells U.S. to Stay
John Pomfret Washington Post Service
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan The newly appointed prime minister of Afghanistan's interim government warned the United States on Monday to never again "walk away from Afghanistan," and he promised that his country would be "a good friend, a trusted friend and an ally" in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism.
In an interview two days after arriving in Kandahar, the former citadel of Taliban power, Hamid Karzai said he completely backed U.S. efforts to capture or kill members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
"We must finish them all," he said, "completely burn them out."
Mr. Karzai gave the interview to The Washington Post, one of the first Western newspapers to arrive in Kandahar after the fall Friday of this dirt-poor, war-ravaged city to a coterie of Pashtun tribes. Mr. Karzai spoke at his new headquarters, the sprawling former residence of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban whom Mr. Karzai called "a fugitive, a criminal."
Tribal elders, sporting elaborately embroidered turbans and tunics, filled the room, lighted by a single gas lamp. Many kissed his right hand, a typical Pashtun sign of respect. Several were among 1,800 political prisoners whom Mr. Karzai had ordered released from jail since the fall of Kandahar.
"Omar has committed crimes, he's killed thousands of people, he's destroyed vineyards, he's butchered my country, he's brought terrorists here," Mr. Karzai said as the gaslight flickered across his salt-and-pepper beard. "I want him tried. "With a bombed-out window and a busted air conditioner as a backdrop, Mr. Karzai, the 43-year-old son of a prominent Afghan politician who was assassinated two years ago, also pledged to push for the disarming of Afghanistan's gun-crazy citizens.
[snip]
iht.com
Excerpted from my post #5697:
Again, my Fourth Crusade analogy was bang on: the US will not crush Afghanistan through carpet-bombing, overkill shelling and the like --'cause there's just nothing to destroy out there! Did you notice how desolate that country already is? So far, I haven't noticed a single tree in all the footages that were broadcast!!! Afghanistan is a target-poor environment. Now, that's fine with me... Let me predict how things will turn out: in one year from now, Afghanis will scream for the Yanks to REMAIN there, just like Albanians and Kosovars want their US buddies to hang around in the Balkans. Afghanis will do business with your GIs --trading opium bags for American cigarettes and the like <g> That's how the American Magic works and that's why I'm eventually optimistic about the US takeover of that hopeless country...
Message 16441499 |
