Interviewing Karzai

Interviewing Karzai

Afghanistan's presidential palace is one of the world's most highly guarded buildings. No surprise, its occupant is the man the world relies on to pacify and defeat the Taliban.

He was targeted many times and miraculously escaped two assassination attempts in Kandahar and Kabul. His security staff is alert all the time.

No pens or watches are allowed, and you have no right to complain, they are thin-skinned when it comes to remarks, they say they are taking no chances.

We received a call from Karzai's people saying the interview with the president was scheduled for 5pm. We went there three hours in advance.

After an hour of being frisked, our gear sniffed by dogs, we were allowed into the room where the interview was to take place. At 4:45pm a nervous Karzai aide showed up apologetically explaining the president had had a long a day and the interview was postponed to the day after.

He was meeting with MPs trying to convince them to votefor a new list of cabinet nominees and approve some of the ones who were rejected a few days ago. By 5pm, he was exhausted and retreated for rest.

We showed up at the next day. We went through the same long and stringent security checks. Once inside the newly refurbished reception room, we rushed to set up our equipments, fix the lightings, and test the sound. Two hours passed by, when suddenly the bodyguards came in, one of them alerting us : "His Excellency President Karzai is arriving"

Dressed in his signature Fez and a flowing Marzari cape, the president who once impressed the west and was described as the "most chic man in the world" was now carefully choosing his words , shying away from overstatements.

As soon as the red light on the cameras flickered and the interview started, he couldn't wait to deliver his key message.

Karzai is concerned the war against the Taliban is severely jeopardised by the spate of violence, civilian casualties and the growing public anger against Nato forces.

Karzai himself is taking battering from his own people for failing to address these issues.

I first met the president eight years ago in Kabul, shortly after the Taliban were evicted. He was excited at the prospect of turning a war-torn country into a prosperous state where democracy, until then alien to the Afghan people, would flourish.

Eight years later, a lot of those grandiose hopes were fading away, and a series of mis-steps and blunders by his government and the international community have created a mess almost beyond repair, according to many Afghans .

Corruption charges, soaring opium cultivation, the influence of warlords, impoverishment of the Afghans, are issues that are eating away at Karzai's standing among the people, and threatening his chances to stay in politics.

His five year term could perhaps be his last chance to win the trust of his own people as well as of the international community. If he fails, his career will come to an end.