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Afghanistan's Karzai Emerges as Leader of First Post-Taliban Government
With additional reporting by Mutiullah Tayeb, IOL correspondent
DOHA, Dec. 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As Mullah Mohammed Omar withdraws from the Afghan scene, the world is turning its attention towards Hamid Karzai, the head of the interim government in Afghanistan, as decided in the Bonn conference.
The 46-year-old is a powerful Pashtun tribal leader from the Taliban's political stronghold of Kandahar, and a member of the same clan as the former Afghan king, Zahir Shah.
However, some analysts don't consider Karzai a very popular political figure despite his taking part in the Afghan fight against theSoviet invasion and occupation during the 1980s. His popularity was apparently not helped by his post as deputy foreign minister in Afghanistan's government in 1992, following the ouster of the regime of former leader Najibullah.
Karzai is one of seven sons of a well-known Afghan politician, Abdul-Ahad Karzai, who was assassinated 1999 in Pakistan. The elder Karzai's murder was widely attributed to the Taliban and Pakistan's Inter-Services intelligence (ISI), according to BBC's online news service and sources.
When the Taliban emerged onto Afghanistan's political scene in the early 1990s, Hamid Karzai initially supported them. However, by late 1994, he reportedly become suspicious of the movement, fearing it had been infiltrated and was controlled by foreigners, including Pakistanis and Arabs.
In the wake of the deadly September 11 attacks in New York and near Washington, Karzai reportedly received a stream of disaffected Afghan commanders and tribal leaders at his home in the Pakistani city of Quetta.
In October, Karzai reportedly slipped across the border into Afghanistan to gather support for a loya jirga, or a grand tribal assembly in Afghanistan. He allegedly survived a Taliban attempt to capture him, managing to escape to the heart of the country, where he commands the loyalty of large numbers of Afghans.
Karzai's entry was purportedly a part of an alleged U.S. plan to replace the Taliban with ethnic Pastun leaders. His role became more significant following the capture and immediate execution last month of fellow Pashtun leader Abdul Haq by Taliban authorities.
After the total defeat of the Taliban in the north, Hamid Karzai's military and political role appeared to become even more significant for the Pashtun tribes in the south, which aim to control Kandahar.
Karzai is well educated - he holds a Masters degree in political science - and Westernized. He speaks English, Pashto and Persian fluently.
Karzai has also retained his links with Zahir Shah. He has long supported the former king's plans to build a broad-based government in Afghanistan through the convening of a grand tribal assembly known as a loya jirga.
At the moment, Karzai appears to be the Afghan anti-Taliban opposition's best hope for building an alternative Pashtun powerbase to the militia. Perhaps for that reason, he appears to have been chosen by factions at the Bonn conference to lead an interim administration to replace the Taliban militia.
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