Our New Strongman in Iraq

[TexasLawyer]

These are some of the details that were left out of our own press reports on Khalilzad. But here's the write-up he's getting in Pakistan and elsewhere.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-4-2005_pg4_16
Daily Times--Pakistan
Thursday, April 07, 2005

Khalilzad leaves controversial legacy in Afghanistan

KABUL: US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad was more like a ruler than a humble envoy as he guided the war-shattered country on the road to democracy after the fall of the Taliban, analysts said. Dubbed the ‘viceroy’ by locals - the term used for India’s British colonial leaders - the Afghan-born diplomat was seen as the power behind President Hamid Karzai and won praise for keeping Afghanistan atop Washington’s agenda.

However Khalilzad, who has been nominated as the new US ambassador to Iraq, was also criticised for wielding too great an influence over the fledgling Afghan government. “He was undoubtedly the most influential person in Afghanistan. He was more than an ambassador,” Naimatullah Khan, political commentator on Afghan affairs based in the Pakistani border city of Quetta, told AFP.

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“There is, though, a perception among many Afghans that the real centre of power and decision-making lies at the US embassy rather than at the presidential palace, which leads to a feeling of a lack of ownership of governance,” said a western analyst speaking on condition of anonymity. Khalilzad’s negotiating powers were widely credited with saving October’s historic Afghan presidential election from chaos, after many opposition candidates threatened to boycott the result because of fraud allegations.

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