End of an Era in Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai of Afganistan says that at the end of his current second term in office he will not run again.  He says that he is "exhausted" and that running again would "ruin my legacy by staying on and taking an opportunity away from Afganistan to become an instutitionalized democracy".  He has been known to a lot of the world as a gangster, a lame duck president and a perpetrator of a corrupt government.  Most of the criticism of Karzai, saying he is a gangster and perpetuates a corrupt government comes from the US.  Karzai responds to this by saying most of the corruption comes from contracting practices of foreign countries, "especially the United States".  He has been called a lame duck president by the political activists of Afghanistan due to the fact that most of the centralized power of their government lies in the president, who appoints everyone from ministers to governors.  The biggest controversy has been his attempt to outreach to India which has Pakistan concerned.  However, with the election of President Shariff in Pakistan and his goal of restoring relations with India, there is not much cause for alarm.  As for the assertions that Afghanistan will become a violent militant state like Iraq, Karzai says that these assertions have no merit and will not come to fruition.  He will be leaving office at the end of this term and though there are rumors that he will try to maintain power, he has said that he will not because he wishes for Afghanistan to become a democracy, not an autocracy.  Time will only tell if he stays true to his word.

Gardiner, H., & Rosenberg, M. (2013, May 23). Karzai says another term leading afghanistan is out of the question. New York Times. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1353975471?accountid=44854

By:  Adam Sehr