[Dawn] Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistain, denouncing the Taliban attack on a Pak teenager who is promoting girls' education and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries.
Karzai's office said in a statement issued late Saturday that the president wrote that the attack on 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai indicated that both Afghanistan and Pakistain need to take "coordinated and serious" steps to fight terrorism and extremism.
Karzai wrote that he views the shooting as an attack on Afghanistan's girls as well. "It is a deplorable event that requires serious attention," Karzai wrote.
Those upset about the shooting should not be silenced, he wrote, and both Afghans and Paks need to cooperate and fight with strong resolve against terrorism and extremism so that the "children of Afghanistan and Pakistain" can be saved from oppression.
Karzai has been pushing Islamabad to take more action against jihad boy groups that he says hide out in Pakistain and then cross into Afghanistan to conduct attacks on Afghan officials and security forces and on international forces.
The letters were sent to more than a dozen political and religious leaders, including Pakistain
President Asif Ali Ten PercentZardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
; Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf;
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, the leader of Pakistain's Moslem League -- Nawaz Party; Qazi Hussain Ahmed
...the absolutely humorless, xenophobic former head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. He was also head of the MMA, a coalition of religious parties formed after 2001 that eventually collapsed under the weight of the holy egos involved. Qazi was the patron of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar during the Afghan mujaheddin's war against the Soviets. His sermons are described as
fiery,which means they rely heavily on gospel and not at all on logic. Qazi once recommended drinking camel pee for good health, but that was before his kidneys went...
, leader of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
; Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who heads the Pakistain Moslem League-Q; and Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
, a cricket star who leads the Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
party.
Khan has been especially outspoken against US drone attacks. Khan has argued in the past that Islamabad's alliance with Washington is the main reason Pakistain is facing a homegrown Taliban insurgency and that jihad boy activity in Pakistain's tribal areas will dissipate when US troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, Khan led a protest against US drone attacks, saying that as long as they continue, anti-American sentiment in Pakistain could continue to rise.
Malala Yousufzai, 14, was seriously maimed when a Taliban jihad boy shot her in the head on Tuesday on her way home from school. She is widely respected for being an activist for girls' education in the Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...Valley where she lives, and the rest of Pakistain. The shooting set off an international outcry against cut-thoats.