President of hell: Hamid Karzai's battle to govern post-war, post-Taliban Afghanistan | The Sunday Times

News

   
Show all

President of hell: Hamid Karzai's battle to govern post-war, post-Taliban Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai adores his country. Just as well: running Afghanistan is the most dangerous job on Earth. Christina Lamb reports

Published: 29 June 2003
The president of Afghanistan pops a vitamin-C pill in his mouth and almost chokes. 'It's the sort you're supposed to dissolve in water,' he explains, wincing and laughing, as he rings a bell for water. He could be forgiven for both needing vitamins and being distracted. Not only has he just returned from a punishing tour of the US and Japan, urging world leaders not to forget his country, but this morning the bones of one of his murdered predecessors, President Mohammed Daoud, and all his family have been found in the grounds of the presidential palace, the Arg.

So many Afghan rulers have been assassinated inside their palace walls that one former king, Abdur Rehman, used to hire tasters to test his tea. President Hamid Karzai has the modern-day equivalent: strapping American bodyguards with M-16s, AK-47s and night-vision goggles. From praying in the palace mosque to dining with his

Subscribe now
Login
Already a subscriber?

To see the full article you need to subscribe

Subscribe
Login
© Times Newspapers Ltd 2015
Registered office 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF.
Registered in England No 894646