Afghanistans Präsident verschärft die Kritik am Westen. Hier die Karzais „antiwestliche Aussagen“ aus einem Interview mit Margaret Warner
MARGARET WARNER: Now, President Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the U.N. special rep, Kai Eide, have spoken very bluntly and publicly in the past few days about the changes they want to see in your cabinet and in your administration on both corruption and competence. And they have even suggested that Western support will fade if you do not do this.
How do you regard those comments?
HAMID KARZAI: Well, the West is not here primarily for the sake of Afghanistan. It is here to fight the war on terror. The United States and its allies came to Afghanistan after September 11.
Afghanistan was troubled like hell before that, too. Nobody bothered about us. So, they’re here to fight terrorism. And that is an interest that we share.
Of course, they need to build Afghanistan in order for Afghanistan to be able to defend itself and to be able to stand on its own feet and to deliver goods to its people. That is an Afghan responsibility, primarily, to get to where we want to be in terms of a better government, a better society, a developmental plan that delivers the services to the Afghan people.
MARGARET WARNER: Your Foreign Ministry yesterday issued — on Saturday — issued a statement saying that they considered the statements from some of these groups to be interference and lack of respect for Afghan sovereignty. Do you see it that way?
HAMID KARZAI: Well, we must all be very careful, while we are partners with one another, while we work together, while we are traveling this journey together, that our partnership and our advice is a friendly one and with good intentions, and not one that can be interpreted any other way.
MARGARET WARNER: And did you feel that President Obama and Gordon Brown and Kai Eide crossed that line?
HAMID KARZAI: Well, I’m immune to that. I’ve heard so much of that, you know, it doesn’t bother me.
MARGARET WARNER: And, so, was the Foreign Ministry just speaking for itself?
HAMID KARZAI: The Foreign Ministry was not speaking for itself. The Foreign Ministry was definitely speaking on behalf of the Afghan government.
MARGARET WARNER: So, you did see it as showing a little bit of lack of respect for Afghan sovereignty?
HAMID KARZAI: We like our partners to have a lot of respect for Afghan sovereignty. Afghanistan is extremely sensitive about that.
MARGARET WARNER: The U.N. did reluctantly withdraw about two-thirds of its foreign staff, at least temporarily, for safety’s sake.
What impact is that likely to have?
HAMID KARZAI: No impact. No impact.
MARGARET WARNER: So, you don’t care if they return?
HAMID KARZAI: They may or may not return. I don’t think Afghanistan will notice it. We wish them well, wherever they are.
MARGARET WARNER: One of your advisers said to me that they thought — he thought, unfortunately, that a certain climate of distrust now existed between your government and the Obama administration.
Does it? And, if so, where does this come from?
HAMID KARZAI: No, I wouldn’t describe it as distrust.
It’s a question of better handling of things on both sides. I guess we have to handle the Americans better, and the Americans have to handle us better.