As Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai begins his two-day visit to India on Tuesday, policymakers face the challenge to get the Afghan plot straight, says former diplomat M K Bhadrakumar
Ahead of his meeting with US President George Bush, The Afghan President said he wants greater control over American military operations in his country and punishment for any US troops who mistreat prisoners.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is in India for talks. Sheela Bhatt reviews the relationship.
Amid reports that the US has quietly approved an additional deployment of some 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday said more US troops are welcome in his country.
The United States administration on Monday rolled out the red carpet for Hamid Karzai and his entourage, barely six weeks after the White House seriously considered canceling the invitation extended to the beleaguered Afghanistan president.In March, President Obama had made a surprise visit to Kabul and read out the riot act to Karzai. While inviting the Afghanistan president to Washington, Obama had also rebuked him for his failure to end massive corruption.
Hamid Karzai's first priority after getting re-elected as Afghanistan's president is to open peace talks with Pakistan in an attempt to end the Taliban insurgency raging across their shared border, one of his top aides has said.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai made a torrid attack on the Pakistani leadership in a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and demanded that Islamabad produce top Taliban leaders to negotiate with him. Karzai confronted the Pakistanis at an official delegation-level talk on Thursday in Islamabad between the two countries on the sidelines of a trilateral summit meeting of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
On Friday, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai claimed that former president Burhanuddin Rabbani's killing was plotted in the Pakistani city Quetta.
The announcement follows Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's brief stopover in Kabul earlier today en-route to Islamabad.
Signalling a strained relationship with Hamid Karzai, United States has indicated that Afghanistan President's White House invitation could be withdrawn if he continues with his anti-US rhetoric.
In the wake of the terror attack in Kabul, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requested Afghan President Hamid Karzai to ensure full protection for Indians in Afghanistan on Saturday.
Seeking to enhance strategic cooperation and help Afghanistan deal with key challenges of security and stability, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived on Wednesday on a crucial visit as the trouble-torn country approaches the first democratic transition of power after fall of the Taliban in 2001.
The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated president Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.
Newsweek has carried a report that says Karzai's move may not have been wise.
A day after the terror attack in Kabul targeting Indians, Afghan President Hamid Karzai today called up Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and assured him that extra measures would be taken to ensure the safety of Indians there.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Monday said that Pakistan has a key role to play in his government's peace talks with the Taliban because the militant group operates from there. "They operate from there. And a meaningful peace process cannot go well or end in satisfactory results without Pakistan's participation and help," Karzai said. Karzai said he could not hold peace talks with Taliban unless the militants produce a verifiable authorized representative.
The Afghan President said he had come to thank India for its support and help over the past four years.
After initial skepticism, the Obama administration has finally begun to acknowledge that Hamid Karzai would be re-elected as Afghanistan's President for second consecutive term, media reports said on Monday.
Hours after Afghan forces repulsed major suicide attacks by Taliban on Kabul, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai blamed "intelligence failures" for the assault, particularly on the part of US-led NATO alliance.
On the arrival of additional troops, Karzai said that if their arrival contributed to better security for the Afghan people and since it would enhance the ability of the Afghan forces to defend their country then he was ready to consider it.
Musharraf also demanded that coalition fighting Taliban help spread economic development in Pashtun areas to wean them away from the Taliban and ensure that they do not join them.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday held bilateral meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Syrian Premier Wael Nader al-Halqi during which they took stock of their ties and discussed regional and global issues.
On the eve of Hamid Karzai's visit, US President Barack Obama has instructed his senior national security team to stop berating the Afghan President and treat him with more public respect, a prominent newspaper reported on Sunday. During a White House meeting last month, Obama made clear to officials that Karzai is the chief US partner in the war effort and it will be reflected in his visit to Washington that begins on Monday, Washington Post reported.
Karzai will hold comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after which the two countries are expected to ink a strategic pact to streamline the various assistance programmes of India and institutionalise bilateral security dialogue.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is among the foreign leaders invited to Narendra Modi's swearing-in as prime minister on May 26 which Afghan President Hamid Karzai has decided to attend.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day state visit for bilateral talks and to attend a tri-lateral summit of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan that will focus on the regional security situation, officials said.
Setting up conditions for peace talks with the Taliban, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said on Friday that the group's leader Mullah Omar must talk for peace, accept Afghan constitution and denounce violence.
'President Karzai's visit is an occasion to refine our thinking apropos the 'reintegration' and reconciliation strategy toward the Taliban.'
The security of all provinces will be under Afghan leadership within five years. This was the pledge made in London on Thursday at a conference aimed at aligning the international community with the reintegration plan set out by President Hamid Karzai.
United States President Barack Obama, during his unannounced visit to Afghanistan, assured his counterpart Hamid Karzai of smooth transition of the country's security to Afghan forces as American troops will begin winding down next summer.
Launching another broadside against Pakistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said the Taliban, that has launched some audacious attacks in his country will not be able to "move a finger without Pakistani support."
Karzai told CBS television network that he had recently delivered the message privately to President George W Bush.
While some reports say Sirajuddin Haqqani, the operational chief of Haqqani network has recently held a meeting with Afghan president Hamid Karzai in the presence of Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kiyani, Kabul-based sources reveal the meeting did not take place.
India is expected to ink four pacts, including one in the field of mining with mineral-rich Afghanistan during the four-day visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who arrived in Mumbai on Friday.
In a delicate balancing act, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday described India as a 'close friend', while referring to Pakistan and Afghanistan as 'conjoined twins'.In remarks apparently aimed at assuaging Pakistan's concerns about the Indian presence in Afghanistan, Karzai said his country would never allow its soil to be used for activities directed against any of its neighbours.At the same time, Karzai was in Pakistan on a two-day visit.
'I've been a member of the family really. But I certainly am critical of a number of the ways that, in particular the President, has run his country.'
"He is right to say that I know the facts (about what is happening in Afghanistan). I indeed know the facts, but I also know a lot of facts in Pakistan," said Karzai.
