All political opposition parties and coalitions have strongly condemned the anti-US tirades of President Karzai. In a joint statement by the 22-part coalition on Wednesday, they said the international community, particularly the United States, should not take very seriously anything Karzai says.
The Cooperation Council of Political Parties and Coalitions that include 22-parties from the entire opposition termed the recent comments of President Karzai highly poisonous for Afghanistan’s future and relations with its international friends.
They said Karzai’s emotional statements do not represent the view of the people of Afghanistan. They further accused the President of making deliberate attempts to push Afghanistan towards crisis and demanded him to end the ‘irresponsible attitude’ towards the international community.
Country’s leading opposition coalition National Front strongly condemned, saying such attempts are deliberately aimed at creating crisis to manipulate and escape from responsibilities for free, fair and transparent elections in 2014. The Front recognized the uncountable contributions of international community, particularly the United States in Afghanistan with sacrifices of blood and treasure and hoped the international community would continue its contribution regardless of personal tirades of Karzai.
Similarly, the second leading coalition National Coalition leader Dr. Abdullah said thoughtless remarks will take the country down, for narrow interests of a small ruling group who want to cling to power. He added that the leadership, President Karzai, has lost its way. He termed the latest remarks of President Karzai equivalent to the efforts of Taliban to topple the current system. He accused that the President is not interested in holding a transparent elections and these deliberate attempts are made to take the country towards crisis.
Despite the strong domestic reaction, as usual, the international media and mainstream American press which highlighted the controversial statements of President Karzai has not given due coverage to its condemnation by Afghan opposition groups, creating a perception based on one-sided story among masses thinking as if all people in Afghanistan share Karzai’s views. Such a selective coverage, based on sensational priorities of the international media is unfair to the people of Afghanistan and future of this country. Their one-sided reporting makes negative impact on the international public opinion about Afghanistan.
Though Karzai backed down from his statements on Friday, but we believe it is not the first time when the President has used such language against our international allies, but it has been his regular public language for last two years and has been a reason of the negative perception among people about the role of international community in Afghanistan. Our leaders, in this regard, have to be careful and try to represent the true picture of different processes and actors in the ongoing scenario.