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Hamid Karzai to Larry King: I Am Not Manic-Depressive

1 year ago
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David Wood
David Wood
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In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, known for occasional emotional outbursts, denied he is manic-depressive and insisted he is not using anti-anxiety drugs.
The Afghan president, who has often been sharply at odds with Washington and other western capitals, also disclosed that despite recent reports of high-level peace negotiations with the Taliban, there are "no official contacts'' with the insurgents.
"We have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman, talk in that manner. Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address, but rather unofficial personal contacts,'' Karzai said in the taped interview broadcast Monday night.
"But no official contacts with a known entity that reports to a body of Taliban and that comes back and reports to us regularly. That hasn't happened yet,'' Karzai said, according to a transcript provided by CNN. "We hope we can begin that as soon as possible.''
Karzai also breezily dismissed the conviction of many diplomats and military officials that Karzai occasionally "goes off his meds,'' in the words of one senior officer trying to explain Karzai's seemingly unprovoked outbursts.
Shortly after President Obama visited him in Kabul last spring, for example, Karzai loudly accused the West of bribing Afghan election officials and tampering with election results in a conspiracy to weaken the Afghanistan's government – which of course has been supported with billions of dollars of American aid.
"Foreigners . . . do not want us to have a parliamentary election," Karzai said in an April 2 speech in Kabul. "They want parliament to be weakened and battered and for me to be an ineffective president, and for parliament to be ineffective." In Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called the comments "troubling'' and said the administration was "seeking clarification'' of Karzai's outburst.
Days later, Karzai, complaining about unspecified "foreign pressure,'' threatened to quit his job as president and join the Taliban.
Two years ago, Karzai caused a diplomatic furor by vowing to send Afghan troops into Pakistan to kill extremist warlord Baitullah Masoud. "We will go after him now and hit him in his house,'' Karzai told reporters. "And the other fellow, Mullah Omar of Pakistan, should know the same,'' he said, referring to the Taliban leader based in Quetta, Pakistan.
Last month, he burst into tears during a speech in which he contemplated having to send his son Mirwais abroad to school because of the war.
"I don't want my son Mirwais to become alienated -- I don't want that," he said, choking back tears. "I want him to go to school here, I swear to God I'm worried, I'm worried, oh people, I'm worried. God forbid Mirwais should be forced to leave Afghanistan.'' Mirwais is 3 years old.
In his new book, "Obama's Wars,'' Woodward reports that "the intelligence showed that Karzai was increasingly delusional and paranoid. Even Karzai's own people were telling that to [U.S. Ambassador Karl] Eikenberry and [special envoy Richard] Holbrooke.''

In his direct way, King asked Karzai if he is manic-depressive.
"Oh – definitely not,'' Karzai replied. He said reports to that effect are "rather funny . . . ''
He rushed to explain: "The only medication that I have taken is an antibiotic called Augmentin – the strongest ones I have taken when I had a bad cold two years ago. And I from time to time take multivitamins and vitamin C, and of course a popular medicine in the U.S., Tylenol, is something I use from time to time when I have a headache or when I'm tired.''
In other news, Karzai acknowledged that he doesn't have "an exact figure'' of how many al Qaeda members are inside Afghanistan. "I think there are very, very few, if any,'' he said.
Filed Under: Culture, International, Afghanistan
Tagged: Afghan War, afghanistan, karzai, Karzai and Obama, karzai manic-depressive, karzai Taliban talks, Larry King
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morristhewise

Human nature remains the same from the Congo to Washington, if there is a lynch mob on your tail, bribe their leaders and hope they will throw some of it to their followers. The problem in Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan is that their corrupt leaders are not sharing the bribe money.

October 17 2010 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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