Karzai is nuts.
He had his moment, in 2001-2, when due to all the differences between all the Afghan factions he was felt by a majority of the factions to be less threatening than other possible choices and thus he was able to obtain western support to take the lead to begin the “democratic” process.
Karzai should have then become a one-term President.
Instead, he has become drunk on the centralized power that was installed in his office, used it corruptly, neutered the legislative process in many areas of governance, and has no understanding of how to play international politics in favor of his nations’ interest.
His responses and outcries at various points occur because he is floundering, with no clear approach to situations; he is confused between what is his own personal interest (his power) and what is in the interest of Afghanistan (Afghan sovereign interests).
My fear is that someone in Afghanistan is going to knock him off, and that we might get blamed as a party to it because of the nutty things he has said.
We should hope a democratic movement against Karzai would get strong enough to remove him democratically.
Karzai is riding a tiger. If he leaves the office he will be hanged on the nearest lamppost. What we see here is the new Gaddafi in the making.
We should hope a democratic movement against Karzai would get strong enough to remove him democratically.
Afghan democracy is of Mao style: "Power comes from the barrel of the gun." And why not? An insurrection is much easier to arrange than a popular, peaceful revolt. All you need is money to pay soldiers.
Also to remove someone from the office democratically that someone must adhere (willingly or not) to democratic rules. For example, he must not monkey with elections; he must quit if he loses; he must not stay in the office longer than the Constitution allows; and so on. Considering that Karzai's life is at stake, loss of the office means loss of his life (and his way of life too.) Perhaps he can escape Afghanistan and live somewhere, like in the USA, on money that he stole from the US aid. But he knows what the word "assassin" means, and he saw just a month or two ago how they work. He will not be safe anywhere on Earth.