Abdullah: Karzai Is Counting on NATO Staying Forever

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's former foreign minister and the man who nearly won the country’s contentious presidential election last fall, says Afghan President Hamid Karzai does not share Washington's sense of urgency to resolve the conflict there.

"I think [Karzai] thinks that you are going to be there forever, for ulterior motives, due [to] strategic goals," Abdullah said during a conversation with Time Magazine columnist Joe Klein at the Asia Society in New York on May 27. "And at the same time it has happened that perhaps he also think[s] that as long as [the US is] there, he will be the president."

Abdullah, who has supported and served Karzai in the past, said the president does not believe in an elected democracy and would rather control the country through appointees. Thus, governors who do not provide services to constituents stay in power – as long as their loyalties lie with Karzai -- and drive civilians towards the Taliban.

“Taliban is the only option for the Pashtun,” Abdullah said, referring to tribes in the impoverished southern provinces of Afghanistan. “And the first thing they’ll ask for from the Taliban is education for their kids – girls and boys,” he added, underscoring the desperation and lack of ideological common ground between Talibs and regular Afghans.

Abdullah is boycotting the Peace Jirga, or council, currently being held in Kabul. He has called the meeting a “PR exercise to show that we are making an effort to reach peace.” Abdullah said he believes that the US and NATO must proceed cautiously with Karzai as a partner.

"We risk the situation that a lot of effort will be made and we will end up with nothing," Abdullah said. "It depends to what degree the US has reached agreement with the Afghan side."