Hamid Karzai-The Lonely President:
BBC NEWS:From Our Own Correspondent:
On board with Karzai
By Crispin Thorold BBC, Afghanistan
Afghanistan's first presidential election will take place on October 09-2004, but for Hamid Karzai - the clear favourite - it has been business as usual. Just about everyone in Kabul knows when Hamid Karzai is on the move. Soldiers and intelligence officers stream onto the clogged streets and road blocks appear as whole areas are shut down.
Road rage spreads as quickly as the news that it is the president who is once again holding up the traffic. In time a convoy of Humvees - the armoured jeeps mainly used by the American military - sweeps past. They are packed with Western security contractors brandishing machine guns. This American military paraphernalia has, in recent months, become an integral part of the public image of Hamid Karzai, the hero of the international community and the clear favourite to win next week's presidential poll.
The trip was a rare insight into the suffocating restrictions on Hamid Karzai's movement. Although election posters have been pasted on walls across Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, the president is not, his aides say, campaigning. He is, they argue, "too busy running the country." Military operation Hamid Karzai is trying to make more official visits to the provinces, a problematic exercise in a country still not at peace.
His first foray after the formal start of the campaign was aborted when a rocket was fired towards his helicopter, but last Sunday the president did make it to the north-west to open a road construction project. For the handful of journalists who travelled with Hamid Karzai, the trip was a rare insight into the suffocating restrictions on his movement. The American security co-ordinator who greeted us was polite but brusque. After body searches, a sniffer dog checked our equipment and we were presented with the all-important delegate passes that allowed us onto the president's aeroplane.
The instructions on the back of the ID were clear: "Return after mission is complete." An appropriate choice of language, for this was a journey that really did feel like a military mission. Ushered by bus to a US Air Force plane we sat on the tarmac waiting for Hamid Karzai's arrival. Without warning the engines whirred into action, and within moments, Hamid Karzai's helicopter, which had brought him the short distance from the presidential palace, touched down. Everyone on the plane - cabinet ministers, gunmen and journalists alike - sprung to their feet.
The formal greeting over, the Hercules soon took off. The competition Within the hour we had landed at an anonymous runway, somewhere in the north of Afghanistan. No one would say exactly where. Somehow the politician - who the former Gucci designer Tom Ford described as the "best-dressed man in the world" - managed to keep his trademark chapan, a green and blue silk coat, and his lambswool karakol hat in place, as he rushed over to one of the waiting Chinooks.
A cameraman was punched by a bodyguard when he dared film the proceedings The two helicopters hugged the rolling hills, weaving through the valleys. At our destination, a non-descript stretch of road with a tent erected nearby, Hamid Karzai was greeted by singing schoolgirls, the regional strongman, and a fellow candidate in the presidential election, General Abdul Rashid Dostum. The contrast in the two's demeanour and background could not be greater.
Hamid Karzai was the statesman throughout although, as normal, he avoided substantive policy statements. General Dostum's speech was rambling and incoherent, although that mattered little to many of the assembled tribal leaders. A few of them held the military commander's campaign posters, which picture him riding a stallion with a rainbow behind his head. Rather disturbingly the man who has one of the most questionable human rights records in Afghanistan appears to have a halo.
Access denied In no time at all, the speeches were over and the road diggers moved into place. As the dignitaries went to watch, the whole ceremony descended into farce. After 25 tortuous years, this should be the country's finest moment Security men pushed and shoved anyone who tried to get close. A cameraman was punched by a bodyguard when he dared film the proceedings. But perhaps most damagingly an American security contractor slapped an Afghan. Only later did it emerge that he had hit the Transport Minister. The morning's events left me pondering where the balance between security and politics in Afghanistan ought to lie.
After 25 tortuous years, this should be the country's finest moment. Afghans are at last being given the opportunity to choose their own president after so much bloodshed. But with the favourite forced by his minders to be so distant from the people, how can they be expected to make anything like an informed choice? It is also a great shame for Hamid Karzai. He is an incredibly charming, likeable man, who comes to life when he meets new people. He is at his best when challenged in public forums.
Why is he not holding some?
Sure the security situation in Afghanistan is problematic, but will it get better in the long run if Afghans are not given a real taste of the potency of democracy? Sadly for now, the only exposure most Kabulis have to their president, are the traffic jams that follow in his wake. From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 2 October, 2004 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3708158.stmPublished: 2004/10/02 11:03:14 GMT
On board with Karzai
By Crispin Thorold BBC, Afghanistan
Afghanistan's first presidential election will take place on October 09-2004, but for Hamid Karzai - the clear favourite - it has been business as usual. Just about everyone in Kabul knows when Hamid Karzai is on the move. Soldiers and intelligence officers stream onto the clogged streets and road blocks appear as whole areas are shut down.
Road rage spreads as quickly as the news that it is the president who is once again holding up the traffic. In time a convoy of Humvees - the armoured jeeps mainly used by the American military - sweeps past. They are packed with Western security contractors brandishing machine guns. This American military paraphernalia has, in recent months, become an integral part of the public image of Hamid Karzai, the hero of the international community and the clear favourite to win next week's presidential poll.
The trip was a rare insight into the suffocating restrictions on Hamid Karzai's movement. Although election posters have been pasted on walls across Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, the president is not, his aides say, campaigning. He is, they argue, "too busy running the country." Military operation Hamid Karzai is trying to make more official visits to the provinces, a problematic exercise in a country still not at peace.
His first foray after the formal start of the campaign was aborted when a rocket was fired towards his helicopter, but last Sunday the president did make it to the north-west to open a road construction project. For the handful of journalists who travelled with Hamid Karzai, the trip was a rare insight into the suffocating restrictions on his movement. The American security co-ordinator who greeted us was polite but brusque. After body searches, a sniffer dog checked our equipment and we were presented with the all-important delegate passes that allowed us onto the president's aeroplane.
The instructions on the back of the ID were clear: "Return after mission is complete." An appropriate choice of language, for this was a journey that really did feel like a military mission. Ushered by bus to a US Air Force plane we sat on the tarmac waiting for Hamid Karzai's arrival. Without warning the engines whirred into action, and within moments, Hamid Karzai's helicopter, which had brought him the short distance from the presidential palace, touched down. Everyone on the plane - cabinet ministers, gunmen and journalists alike - sprung to their feet.
The formal greeting over, the Hercules soon took off. The competition Within the hour we had landed at an anonymous runway, somewhere in the north of Afghanistan. No one would say exactly where. Somehow the politician - who the former Gucci designer Tom Ford described as the "best-dressed man in the world" - managed to keep his trademark chapan, a green and blue silk coat, and his lambswool karakol hat in place, as he rushed over to one of the waiting Chinooks.
A cameraman was punched by a bodyguard when he dared film the proceedings The two helicopters hugged the rolling hills, weaving through the valleys. At our destination, a non-descript stretch of road with a tent erected nearby, Hamid Karzai was greeted by singing schoolgirls, the regional strongman, and a fellow candidate in the presidential election, General Abdul Rashid Dostum. The contrast in the two's demeanour and background could not be greater.
Hamid Karzai was the statesman throughout although, as normal, he avoided substantive policy statements. General Dostum's speech was rambling and incoherent, although that mattered little to many of the assembled tribal leaders. A few of them held the military commander's campaign posters, which picture him riding a stallion with a rainbow behind his head. Rather disturbingly the man who has one of the most questionable human rights records in Afghanistan appears to have a halo.
Access denied In no time at all, the speeches were over and the road diggers moved into place. As the dignitaries went to watch, the whole ceremony descended into farce. After 25 tortuous years, this should be the country's finest moment Security men pushed and shoved anyone who tried to get close. A cameraman was punched by a bodyguard when he dared film the proceedings. But perhaps most damagingly an American security contractor slapped an Afghan. Only later did it emerge that he had hit the Transport Minister. The morning's events left me pondering where the balance between security and politics in Afghanistan ought to lie.
After 25 tortuous years, this should be the country's finest moment. Afghans are at last being given the opportunity to choose their own president after so much bloodshed. But with the favourite forced by his minders to be so distant from the people, how can they be expected to make anything like an informed choice? It is also a great shame for Hamid Karzai. He is an incredibly charming, likeable man, who comes to life when he meets new people. He is at his best when challenged in public forums.
Why is he not holding some?
Sure the security situation in Afghanistan is problematic, but will it get better in the long run if Afghans are not given a real taste of the potency of democracy? Sadly for now, the only exposure most Kabulis have to their president, are the traffic jams that follow in his wake. From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 2 October, 2004 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3708158.stmPublished: 2004/10/02 11:03:14 GMT
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