The Senator Is Driven Out: Afghanistan Authorities Frightened US with Mini Crisis
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta
(Russia) on 26 April 2012
by Vladislav Vorobyev (link to original)
The authorities in Afghanistan now have a personal enemy from the United States. It turns out, it was the Sen. Dana Rohrabacher whom Afghan President Hamid Karzai refused entrance into the country. There is no doubt that this scandal is connected with the senator's recent attempts to find out how much American aid for Kabul was settled in Karzai's personal accounts.
Americans apparently feel that they will no longer remain in the extremely foolish situation in Afghanistan. Billions of dollars are allocated annually from their treasury for the needs of politicians who are seemingly loyal to Washington. However in recent months, the officials in Kabul openly started to show that music is no longer bought by those who pay.
Of course, Americans themselves are primarily to blame for the fact that Afghans are growing more aggressive toward the U.S. Scandal after scandal follows. At one moment Americans burn the Koran at an American base, at another they fire point-blank on completely innocent Afghans, and yet another moment they begin negotiations with Taliban behind Kabul's back. However, Karzai was generally ready to turn a blind eye to these American blunders. In public, he certainly made strong statements and even demanded that Americans leave the Afghan territory as soon as possible. However, he was not going to argue with the Pentagon at all regarding Washington's current plans to keep five well-fortified and heavily armed bases in Afghanistan after 2014 (when most of the American troops are supposed to leave), realizing that only the American bayonets can further guarantee the preservation of his power.
But when the U.S. Senate decided to find out, on what purposes does Karzai, in reality, spend the billions coming from Washington, the Afghan leader grew openly furious. As it turned out, the inquisitive senator was Dana Rohrabacher. He did not simply prepare the inquiry with the request to check the legality of the expenditure of American aid, but he also directly accused Karzai of stealing billions of U.S. dollars.
Had Rohrabacher stayed in America, the Afghan president would, unequivocally, try to hush up the curious senator through, most likely, his friends in the White house, the Pentagon or CIA. But Rohrabacher just decided to fly to Kabul — and the scandal turned out to be enchanting.
"Hillary called and she told me that she thought that Karzai was so animated about this that if I showed up there, it might precipitate some kind of mini-crisis," the senator told journalists as he described what happened when he tried to board an American military plane in Dubai to get to the Afghan capital. The Secretary of State remained stubborn. She managed to convince the Pentagon of the necessity to postpone the flight and the senator had no choice but to return to Washington. Nevertheless, there are no doubts that now Rohrabacher will initiate, with even greater enthusiasm, the clarification of all living circumstances of the Afghan president and his family members on American taxpayer money.
Americans apparently feel that they will no longer remain in the extremely foolish situation in Afghanistan. Billions of dollars are allocated annually from their treasury for the needs of politicians who are seemingly loyal to Washington. However in recent months, the officials in Kabul openly started to show that music is no longer bought by those who pay.
Of course, Americans themselves are primarily to blame for the fact that Afghans are growing more aggressive toward the U.S. Scandal after scandal follows. At one moment Americans burn the Koran at an American base, at another they fire point-blank on completely innocent Afghans, and yet another moment they begin negotiations with Taliban behind Kabul's back. However, Karzai was generally ready to turn a blind eye to these American blunders. In public, he certainly made strong statements and even demanded that Americans leave the Afghan territory as soon as possible. However, he was not going to argue with the Pentagon at all regarding Washington's current plans to keep five well-fortified and heavily armed bases in Afghanistan after 2014 (when most of the American troops are supposed to leave), realizing that only the American bayonets can further guarantee the preservation of his power.
But when the U.S. Senate decided to find out, on what purposes does Karzai, in reality, spend the billions coming from Washington, the Afghan leader grew openly furious. As it turned out, the inquisitive senator was Dana Rohrabacher. He did not simply prepare the inquiry with the request to check the legality of the expenditure of American aid, but he also directly accused Karzai of stealing billions of U.S. dollars.
Had Rohrabacher stayed in America, the Afghan president would, unequivocally, try to hush up the curious senator through, most likely, his friends in the White house, the Pentagon or CIA. But Rohrabacher just decided to fly to Kabul — and the scandal turned out to be enchanting.
"Hillary called and she told me that she thought that Karzai was so animated about this that if I showed up there, it might precipitate some kind of mini-crisis," the senator told journalists as he described what happened when he tried to board an American military plane in Dubai to get to the Afghan capital. The Secretary of State remained stubborn. She managed to convince the Pentagon of the necessity to postpone the flight and the senator had no choice but to return to Washington. Nevertheless, there are no doubts that now Rohrabacher will initiate, with even greater enthusiasm, the clarification of all living circumstances of the Afghan president and his family members on American taxpayer money.