Some time ago, I wrote that Obama was about to give up Karzai - that Karzai should watch himself or he would end up sold down the river like Honduras.
I have also theorized that the Taliban were approached with a deal they publicly had been offering - a settlement with Obama, to end the war in Afghanistan.
And now Karzai is about to make an announcement, but Clinton has no idea what it might be. She knows of course what it is - he has to make concessions - first to agree to a run-off, and when that shows too close, he has to agree to bring in his challenger to create a new government, or Karzai can simply bow out.
LIAR. LIAR.
Pathetic. Just admit it if you like her and Obama, admit they are lying. Clinton brought Obama's dictates to Karzai, gave him the room to create his own excuses or devise whatever reasoning he wished, but he wanted Karzai to say and do what he was told ...
Admit it. Admit you do not find it offensive to meddle and intervene in the internal affairs of Honduras because you hate Bush and like Obama. Admit you do not have a problem dictating policy to Karzai, because you hate Bush and like Obama. Admit that you are a hypocrite and it will set you free.
And this has nothing to do with whether I think Karzai is the best or brightest - rather, it has to do with meddling. Obama didn't want to make a decision until he had sorted out all this Karzai crap. Why isn't it obvious.
Does everyone believe in Easter bunny and tooth fairy ... Amazing.
Clinton says Karzai set to announce his intentions
By ROBERT BURNS (AP)
October 19, 2009
WASHINGTON — Afghan President Hamid Karzai intends to announce Tuesday how he will "set the stage" for resolving the country's postelection political crisis, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.
"He is going to announce his intentions," Clinton told reporters at the State Department after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "I am going to let him do that, but I am encouraged at the direction the situation is moving."
Clinton declined to say whether Karzai has decided to accept the findings of a U.N.-backed fraud investigation that threw out nearly a third of Karzai's ballots from the disputed August election and set the stage for a possible runoff.
An option that would preclude a runoff election would be a power-sharing agreement between Karzai and his closest challenger in the August balloting, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Zalmay Khalilzad, who was U.S. ambassador to Kabul from 2003 to 2005 and who is in Kabul in a private role seeking to resolve the political crisis, said Monday that a power-sharing arrangement may be the best solution. He said he thinks that both Karzai and Abdullah are willing to work out a unity government.
"There is every indication that the Obama administration favors a unity government rather than another vote," Khalilzad said in an interview with ABC News. He added that such an arrangement could be problematic.
"I think the most likely outcome is a unity government, but a government that will take a long time to put together, may not be very strong, and will not be necessarily a very effective partner given the internal disagreements within that government," he said.
Clinton did not address the prospect of a coalition, or unity, government headed by Karzai and Abdullah.
"I am very hopeful that we will see a resolution in line with the constitutional order in the next several days," Clinton said. "But I don't want to pre-empt in any way President Karzai's statement, which will set the stage for how we go forward in the next stage of this."
Clinton said she has spoken a number of times to Karzai in recent days.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Obama administration needs to decide on a war strategy and not "sit on our hands" waiting for election results and a government to emerge in Kabul. In remarks to reporters traveling with him to Asia, the Pentagon chief said President Barack Obama will have to make his decisions in the context of "evolving" issues.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, a spokeswoman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Karzai assured the U.N. chief that he will "fully respect" the constitutional process even if it means a runoff election.
The spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said Ban spoke with Karzai on Monday morning.
Among those most closely involved in seeking a resolution of the crisis is Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said in interviews over the weekend from Kabul that the election process must be settled legitimately before the Obama administration can make a reasoned decision about whether to send additional troops and to commit other resources to stabilizing Afghanistan.
A Kerry spokesman in Washington, Frederick Jones, said Kerry returned to Kabul on Monday after meetings in Pakistan and met with Karzai again. It was Kerry's fourth meeting with the president in as many days, and the first since the U.N. commission's announcement that it found substantial numbers of fraudulent votes.
"He is looking for a way forward to legitimize the election and empower effective government," Jones said.
Kerry will remain in Kabul on Tuesday, with further meetings scheduled, Jones added.
In Kabul, Karzai campaign spokesman Waheed Omar said the president was waiting for the Afghan-led Independent Election Commission to decide whether to accept the fraud panel's findings that dropped Karzai's vote share to 48 percent of the total, below the 50 percent threshold needed for him to avoid a runoff.
The original vote count had given Karzai 54 percent of the total.
Once the independent commission has accepted and certified the findings, they have force of law and the Karzai campaign would comply, the spokesman said.
Clinton said she has received assurances from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, as well as from Afghan authorities, that it's possible to conduct a second election before the onset of paralyzing winter snows.
She declined to say whether Obama would withhold a decision on U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan until the election crisis is over.
"But obviously this is a major part of our strategic review as to, you know, getting the election behind us, getting a new government that can represent the partnership we're seeking as we move forward," she said.
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