As Hamid Karzai’s 2nd term as the president of Afghanistan is coming to an end and he, based on the constitution of the country, cannot nominate himself for 2014 presidential election, his criticisms of the US is being heard more than ever before. Needless to mention that the US contribution to what Karzai is today has been immense, especially during the initial years of post-Taliban Afghanistan. Then the US was a friendly country to Karzai and he praised the US engagement in Afghanistan and its sacrifices in blood and treasures. But now most of Karzai’s public speeches end up with harsh objections on the US counter-terrorism policies and presence of international troops in Afghanistan.
During a meeting with the members of several youth groups at the Presidential Palace on Saturday, President Karzai made some strong comments about the US administration, saying that Washington was never interested to leave Afghanistan and wished to set-up permanent bases in the country. He further said, "Afghanistan is not happy with the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan. Their performance over the past 10 years has not been satisfactory, but they have been benefited instead. Afghans are definitely not happy with their ways of fighting terrorism.”
In March Karzai charged that the Taliban and the U.S. are conniving to perpetuate instability, ignoring a U.S. rebuttal in a deepening crisis in bilateral relations President Karzai said that the Taliban were killing Afghan civilians "in the service of America." Over the past few months, he has been passing resembling comments holding US-led international presence responsible for instability in the country.
What President Karzai is pursuing by giving such comments or why a change in his mindset has occurred is quite obvious. The Taliban have been calling Karzai a puppet of the West and have never recognized his government as legitimate. Therefore, as his term is going to end in the coming months, President Karzai is trying to counter such perceptions about him.
Karzai is trying to better his image among the people of Afghanistan by glossing over the failures of his government in fighting insecurity, corruption, poppy cultivation and other such important issues. By harshly criticizing the US and other western countries, he is also trying to divert the attention of the people from key challenges facing Afghanistan. Additionally, such comments are definitely not in favor of the ties between Afghanistan and the US.