statism watch

Related: Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President

Dawood Azami, BBC News
May 27, 2010

The half-brother of the Afghan president has denied any involvement in corruption.

In an interview with the BBC, Ahmad Wali Karzai accused “local enemies” and and the Western media of spreading malicious rumours about him.

Mr Karzai, the leader of the provincial council in Kandahar, has been linked to the drug trade and organised crime.

He has strenuously denied the allegations, accusing his critics of “seeking to defame him”.

Ahmad Wali Karzai is one of the main power brokers in the province of Kandahar, an area where the Taliban have a strong presence.

In an interview with the BBC, he said that Western officials had now realised that many of the allegations against him were baseless.

‘Rumours’

”Western officials have been victims of the negative propaganda against me by my opponents who have an agenda,” he said.

”The Western media want to sell stories and that is why they base their reports on rumours.”

Kandahar, the second biggest city in Afghanistan, is the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

It is also one of the most insecure parts of the country and a key battlefield in the country’s war.

”Insurgents and enemies have been targeting Kandahar because of its strategic location and historical importance,” Mr Karzai said.

”If Kandahar became stable, the whole country would be stable.”

Nato and US forces are planning to launch a big offensive in Kandahar soon.

The West, especially the US, now seems to be taking a softer approach in dealing with President Karzai’s influential half-brother in an effort to win his support.

The Afghan government and its international partners see effective local government as a key element of the Kandahar operation.

Ahmad Wali Karzai has been accused of undermining the authority of local officials, including the governor.

Mr Karzai denied that he was influencing government decision-making at the provincial level.

‘Big mistake’

But he accepted that mistakes had been made in the past.

‘My big mistake was to become very close to the government at the beginning. I wasted a lot of time by sitting with government officials,” he said.

”I should have kept myself to my real role as the people’s representative.”

Mr Karzai was elected as the head of Kandahar’s Provincial Council for the second time in 2009.

He describes his role as provincial council head as a bridge between the people and the government.

President Karzai had come under pressure from the international community to remove his half-brother from Kandahar.

The president has defended him and sought proof of his alleged misdeeds.

Source | See Also under Afghanistan: Abuses at US ‘Black Jail’ in Afghanistan confirmed | MPs reach agreement to share Afghan detainee document information | Afghan torture documents release talks get extension | Afghan authorities beat citizens on ‘whim’: Military inquiry | Omar Khadr turned down plea deal | Speaker orders Harper government to cough up Afghan detainee documents | Khadr pretrial hearings begin | Taliban fighters lay down their guns to harvest opium poppies | NATO to begin handing control to Afghans | ‘Vast’ biometric database prompts troops to open fire on vehicle, 4 unarmed Afghans killed | Censors threaten detainee hearings | Afghan torture allegations erupt in UK | Canadian Afghan withdrawal could pass through Pakistan | Canadian forces covered up shooting of sleeping 17-yr old: Afghan translator | Canada knew in 2007 Kandahar governor tortured prisoners in dungeon, bombed UN personnel | U.S. officials say Pakistani spy agency released Afghan Taliban insurgents | Taliban support strong in Kandahar: poll | Military Police begin Afghan detainee torture investigative hearings, reporters barred | US special forces ‘tried to cover-up’ botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan | Controversial use of mercenary forces surges in Afghanistan | Afghan tension mounts as NATO offensive looms | Tories table thousands more censored Afghan files | Afghan parliament says no to Karzai bid for more control over election watchdog | MacKay knew of Afghan detainee concerns: diplomat | Full Afghan withdrawal ‘wrong,’ top Tory says | Tories flood Ottawa with blacked-out documents in response to Afghan torture scandal | U.S. to press for Canada to keep troops in Afghanistan | New policy shrouds number of Canada’s Afghan campaign injuries in secrecy | Opposition threatens contempt motion over Afghan torture documents | Defence Department official used private contractors for spy network in AfPak | Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | Russia blames Nato for heroin surge from Afghanistan | NATO prepares for major Kandahar offensive, refugee camps | Afghan ministers voice anger as civilians killed in Nato air strike | Hamid Karzai takes control of Afghanistan election watchdog | White House welcomes Afghan Taliban No. 2 capture | Five civilians killed in Nato rocket attack in Afghanistan | NATO’s novel battle tactic spawns opposite effects as 12 civilians killed | NATO, Afghan troops launch largest air assault of Afghan war | Blackwater accused of defrauding US government, billing for hooker under ‘morale’ | Marjah, Afghanistan: Countdown To A Battle | Omar Khadr’s rights were violated: Ruling sees top court clash with Tories | Military probes beating of Afghan prisoner | Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable, Taliban bailout | British and US troops to launch new Afghanistan offensive | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed | Killer of CIA agents in Afghanistan called for revenge for Baitullah Mehsud | Ex-Blackwater contractors charged with Afghan killings | For more see The Memory Hole – Afghanistan

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 4:17 am and is filed under afghanistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.