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| Afghanistan-Pak-India |
| Karzai replaces US bodyguards with Afghans |
| 2005-10-09 |
| Afghan President Hamid Karzai has replaced his U.S. bodyguards with local ones, blunting accusations by critics who accuse him of relying too much on American support. Karzai asked for American bodyguards in mid-2002, not long after one of his deputies, Haji Abdul Qadir, was assassinated in Kabul and one of his ministers was killed at the city's airport. The American bodyguards were conspicuous by their absence on Thursday when Karzai held a news conference at the presidential palace with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The contract of the Americans, hired by the State Department from U.S. security firm DynCorp, expired on September 27 and Karzai is now protected by about 600 Afghan guards trained by them, officials said. "They had a timeline and that has expired officially," palace official Khaliq Ahmad said of the American bodyguards. He said only a handful of a force that used to number about 300 remained in the country and they would leave too after completing training of their Afghan replacements. He has already survived at least two assassination attempts. In September 2002, his bodyguards shot dead an attacker who opened fire on Karzai's car during a visit to his native city of Kandahar. Last year, a rocket fired at his helicopter narrowly missed while he was on a visit to the town of Gardez. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 how much longer those two anatomical features of his will remain contiguous. Not actually contiguous, one would hope.... rather uncomfortable if the man isn't extremely flexible. ;-) But certainly, both simultaneously attached to his body. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-10-09 21:15 |
| #2 To the man's credit, he's putting his money where his mouth is by placing his @ss on the line. It is another matter entirely as to how much longer those two anatomical features of his will remain contiguous. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-10-09 16:47 |
| #1 Good luck, Hamid. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-10-09 16:36 |