Afghan President Karzai Hamid: Biography

One of the most famous political figures in Afghanistan is, of course, Hamid Karzai. This man was famous for being the first freely elected president in the history of his country. Hamid Karzai, whose political views are criticized by many contemporaries, despite everything, has always remained a sincere patriot of his country.

Who is Karzai?

It is known that Afghanistan has experienced many military conflicts, interventions and intrusions into its territory. Hamid Karzai, whose photo will be presented in our article, took part in the war in his youth, defending the territory of Afghanistan.

Having received this bitter military experience and never forgetting him, all the time, as president, he tried to prevent a second war and to defend the sovereignty of his state by any possible means. He calls himself a convinced pacifist and believes that no issue can really be resolved with the help of military force.

Hamid Karzai: who is on the nation, brief biographical information

This person is a native Afghan, he was born on this earth and belonged to the noble and ancient Pashtun family Popolzai. Hamid Karzai, who was born on December 24, 1957, was born in the small Afghan province of Kandahar. He grew up in a small village of Kurtz, but from the very childhood he had an idea of all the political processes that took place in his country.

With such awareness and early understanding of politics, Karzai Hamid was indebted to his father - Abdul Karzai. This man was a member of the Afghan parliament and provided all possible support to the then incumbent king. For a while in parliament he even held the post of vice-speaker. In addition, Karzai's father was the head of a rather influential clan Popolzai, who had a significant influence on the country's policy. Many believe that Hamid's political views were largely due to the influence of his father.

Education received

In the first class, Karzai Hamid went to Kandahar. A little later the boy's family was forced to change their place of residence and move to Kabul. It was there that he graduated from Habibia High School. Those who were acquainted with him in school, remember that the boy was studying quite successfully. He showed great interest in the Darwinian theory of evolution. He loved literature and preferred the works of Dickens, Chekhov and Dostoevsky. But it was easiest for the student to be given natural sciences, especially chemistry, which he loved very much. Due to his irrepressible thirst for reading and knowledge, the young man learned 5 languages, including fluent French and English. Over time, giving an assessment of his political activities, Karzai will be called the most educated Afghan leader.

After completing the school, Hamid Karzai, whose biography will be discussed in detail in this article, decided to continue his studies and receive higher education. For admission, he was selected Indian University Himachal, which was located in Simla. Being influenced by his father, on the one hand, and proceeding from his own interests, already formed by that time, on the other, Hamid wanted to study political science. He also graduated from the university very successfully and received a master's degree in political science.

Participation in the Soviet-Afghan war

After graduating from the institute Hamid lived in Pakistan, and it was there he was caught by the news about the beginning of the Soviet-Afghan war. A young politician began to render financial assistance to the mujahideen and set up arms supplies for them. It is said that it was then that he acquired ties with the US government and British intelligence. In addition to material assistance, Hamid took a direct part in protecting the territory of his country. Returning to Afghanistan, he commanded partisan detachments.

Stories related to the Taliban

After the Soviet troops left Afghanistan, Karzai became a member of the moderate wing of the Afghan resistance. For a long time he was on good terms with the Taliban, because he believed that only they can bring order to the Afghan land.

Taliban members also showed loyalty and once, having captured Kabul, even offered him to become their representative to the UN. Hamid refused such an offer, and with the advent of Osama bin Laden his attitude towards the organization has sharply cooled. Hamid Karzai realized that as long as this organization exists, there will be no end to the civil war on his land.

Popular recognition and official coming to power

In 2001, Karzai personally participated in an operation conducted by the Americans to liberate Kandahar from the Taliban. In 2002, the UN, considering the Afghan issue, decided to establish an interim government, and Hamid was invited to lead it. This proposal was accepted to them.

Afghan statesman Hamid Karzai officially headed the country in 2004. During the first free presidential elections in the history of the country, people, tired of constant conflicts and civil war, gave 55% of their votes for this person.

Evaluation of its political activities is very ambiguous. His supporters say that during the reign of Karzai Afghanistan really achieved success in the development of education and economic recovery. Opponents say that these achievements do not exclusively relate to the results of the efforts of one president. Many political analysts say that in fact, Karzai Hamid had power exclusively in Kabul. Outside this city, he actually did not possess it.

Despite various opinions, assessing the work of Karzai, one can not ignore the difficult situation in Afghanistan. This person tried to improve the situation in his country as much as possible, as well as on the resources that he possessed. During his reign, Afghanistan really became more democratic. For example, Karzai, for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, introduced several women into the state government, which was previously nonsense for this country.

Political strategy

Considering how the political career of this figure took shape, many accused him of dependence on the American government. The majority of opponents often reproached Karzai with the fact that, before becoming a popularly elected president, he was declared and appointed head of the transitional government by a special UN conference, which was the fate of Afghanistan in 2001.

Political analysts are more inclined to believe that Karzai, realizing the complexity of the situation in Afghanistan, was simply looking for any ways to solve the problems of his country. For example, in 2002, speaking in Tokyo at a conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan, he managed to achieve allocation for his country 4 billion dollars.

For the sake of justice, it should also be noted that, having become head of state, Hamid did not allow himself to introduce in Afghanistan a line of full support for the policies of Western countries. The same was true of the United States, which deployed its troops on the territory of the country. Largely due to such domestic policy, Hamid Karzai enjoyed the support of the common people, whose fears about the coming to power of the "pro-American" candidate remained in vain.

His sincere patriotism, he showed in 2008, when he openly criticized the military anti-terrorist operations conducted by Americans on Afghan territory. Karzai Hamid repeatedly made statements that it is time to stop the casualties among the civilian population, which every time appear as a result of American "peacekeeping" operations.

Repeat elections

In 2009, new elections were held in Afghanistan. Karzai Hamid was re-elected president, and on November 19, 2009, he took a second oath. Elections were accompanied by various intrigues, gossip and scandals. After the first round, Karzai was accused of falsification. His main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, refused to participate in the second round, as this venture was considered to be a losing game. There was a lot of talk about the fact that Karzai Hamid will win anyway, as the Americans will help him in this at any cost.

A year later, in 2010, there was a situation that many once again caused doubts about "unconditional subordination to America" Karzai. The New York Times published a resonant report that the Afghan president received a huge amount of funding from the government of Iran. Karzai Hamid did not deny this fact and said that he happily accepts and will take money for the development of his country from all "friendly countries", from America to Iran.

The departure of the president

In 2014, this man left voluntarily to resign, after he held the presidency for about 12 years. Many people attribute this to the fact that Karzai understood better than anyone else the hopeless situation of Afghanistan. The economy of this country is undermined by years of civil wars, the majority of the population lives on the verge of begging, and remaining without US funding for this country can mean a collapse. But everyone around us understands that "friendly material assistance" is just a "payment" of the US for deploying its military bases on the territory of Afghanistan.

Hamid Karzai made it clear that the issue remained unresolved with the Taliban, the United States could not restore the promised order, but they are not going to withdraw from the Afghan territories. Not wishing to take responsibility for cooperation with the US and at the same time not daring to interrupt him, Hamid Karzai preferred to retire with dignity.