Karzai Visits Pak; Goes Back with Empty Promises

US puppet Hamid Karzai is facing grave difficulties as his every move depicts anxiety, fear and irrationality. As Karzai`s time is reaching the fateful limit with the 2014 Withdrawal, he must play are his last moves wisely. Karzai rightly fears a deadly fate as the USA passed him and arranged for direct negotiations with the Taliban in the Doha office. As the US tries to ensure a safe haven exit from Afghanistan as soon as possible, it has deliberately pushed its planted agent Karzai to the side-line.

The bitter history of previous president of Afghanistan, Najibullah may as well be haunting Karzai at this moment of time, who was at inside the UN compound when the Taliban soldiers came for him on 27 September 1996. He was dragged by the Taliban into the streets before they tortured him to death behind a truck in the streets. His blood-soaked body was hung on a traffic signal. His brother Shahpur Ahmadzai was given the same treatment. Najibullah and his brother’s body were hanged on public display to show the public that a new era had begun. At first Najibullah and his brother were denied an Islamic funeral because of their “crimes”, but the bodies were later handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross who in turn sent their bodies to the Paktia province where both of them were given a proper funeral by their fellow Ahmadzai tribesmen.

Karzai and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met after a deadlock of more than a year between the governments of the two South Asian neighbors. During this period both sides have also accused each other of making illegal border incursions.

When contacted, Prime Minister’s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs said President Karzai’s visit was a ‘step forward in reducing the trust deficit’ that marred relationship between the two countries over the past few months.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai was ‘terribly anxious’ for getting in contact with the Taliban leaders, particularly with those in Pakistan’s custody, said Afghan sources. “We even did not meet the Karzai people in Qatar and any such contact is impossible anywhere,” the Taliban official said.

The report also said that Karazai ‘sought Pakistan’s help to convince the Taliban to shift their office from the Qatari capital, Doha to either Saudi Arabia or Turkey and start negotiations with Karzai administration’. But such a promise could not be made off hand by the Pakistan side.

The sources said the High Peace Council Karzai has formed for talks with the armed opponents had requested for contacts with the Taliban figures during his extended visit to Pakistan.

Mr. Karzai demanded the release of Taliban prisoners including Mullah Biradar and also asked for Pakistan’s help in talks between the Afghan High Peace Council and the Taliban. The Afghanistan President had arrived on Monday, originally for a day long visit but Mr. Sharif had requested him to extend his stay in Pakistan so that the two leaders could continue to “confer on matters of common interest in the bilateral and regional context”.

“We will certainly release more Taliban prisoners but at an appropriate time,” was the reply of a Pakistani official.

Has this trip made Karzai better positioned in the battle of his existence that he faces now after 10 years of betrayal to his people? Will any of his demands be met by the Pakistani side or will this be another addition to his disgrace and helplessness. Can India secure him a better place in Afghanistan, or is India too looking to him for a support he is incapable of promising? Perhaps these are questions the answers of which time will tell and historians will write.