Hamid Karzai, confronted with an extremely embarassing story, angrily lashes out against the U.S.:
Mr. Karzai made his remarks during a rambling, sometimes incoherent appearance at a news conference during which he accused the United States of funding the “killing” of Afghans by paying thousands of gunmen at private security contractors to guard buildings and convoys here. It was the latest outburst in a bitter dispute with the United States and its NATO allies that has taken on an increasingly anti-Western tone….
The accusations followed a stormy meeting he had on Sunday night with the NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, as well as other senior Afghan and western officials in which Mr. Karzai stormed out, saying that he did not need the West’s help, according to people knowledgeable about the confrontation.
First, Karzai is delusional if he thinks he doesn’t need our help, unless he plans to cut a deal with the Taliban that spares his life in return for tremendous political and territorial concessions to the Islamists. Otherwise, without a western military presence, the Afghan president is a goner–literally.
More to the point, the future of Afghanistan does look exactly look promising when the president likens Americans to the Taliban and, oh by the way, admits that his aides have been accepting huge sacks of cash from Iran.