Karzai Escapes Assassination Attempt
Hamid Karzai - the pro-Western leader of Afghanistan - escaped yesterday when his political enemies, Al Qaeda and the Taliban, tried to assassinate him. The Taliban tried to assassinate the president during the Afghan national day military parade in central Kabul. This event was meant to show the world, and Afghans specifically, that the country’s army and government are strong. Instead, the parade became a terrible embarrassment for the government.
Three people, none of them Karzai thank God, were killed by the attackers. One of the three was a tribal chief, another a politician, and yet another a 10-year old boy, who was caught in the crossfire.
When the attackers started firing at Afghanistan’s leader, officials and foreign diplomats had to scramble for cover in the stands. Hundreds of soldiers ran off the parade ground in disarray.
The fact that the Taliban were able to get so close to President Karzai, on such an important day, suggests that the Taliban had inside-help. They boasted shortly afterwards that the attack was meant to show that they can strike in the heart of Afghanistan - wherever they want to - and they said that it was meant to disrupt this major event.
Well, in that they succeeded.
But luckily they did not succeed in assassinating Karzai. If they would have removed Karzai from power, Afghanistan, pro-Western elements in that country, and the West itself would all have a major problem. Karzai can’t rightfully be compared to Iraq’s leader Nouri al-Maliki; we all know that Karzai truly is oriented on the West, and an enemy of the Taliban (with al-Maliki, some of us have their doubts about his willingness to take on Shiite militias).
Karzai is also, compared to al-Maliki, a reasonably strong leader, who seems to be able to unite the different factions in his country (except for the Taliban and their supporters, obviously).
