US tried to Oust Hamid Karzai by manipulating elections, Robert Gates

[nangyale]

Here is the British guardian saying that according to former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the US government tried to oust Hamid Karzai in the 2009 elections, but failed. It seems to be a testament to the networking skills and perseverance of Hamid Karzai that he survived that plot. It also explains why he is so paranoid about US manipulating this year's elections as well. The full article follows.

US 'tried to oust Hamid Karzai by manipulating Afghan elections'
Former defence secretary Robert Gates is quoted as saying in his memoirs that US tried to eject Afghan president in 2009

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  Robert Gates is said to claim in his memoirs that a top US diplomat supported Karzai's rivals in the poll. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
  The US government tried to oust the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, by manipulating elections in 2009, in what amounted to a "clumsy and failed putsch", the former defence secretary Robert Gates has been quoted as writing in his memoir.
  
  Karzai has long claimed that the US tried to manipulate the poll to remove him from office, while Washington insisted it was an impartial supporter of democracy. The revelations in Gates's account of his years in power, which is published next week and covers the war in Afghanistan, appear to vindicate the Afghan leader's suspicions.
  
  The top US diplomat Richard Holbrooke supported Karzai's rivals in the hope of pushing the poll to a second round that the incumbent would lose, Foreign Policy magazine reported.
  
  "It was all ugly: our partner, the president of Afghanistan, was tainted, and our hands were dirty as well," Gates is quoted writing.
  
  Karzai has cited concerns about foreign interference in a vote to choose his successor later this year as one reason for the delay in signing a long-term security pact with Washington to keep troops in the country after their combat mission ends later this year.
  
  The deal is unlikely to be signed on the timetable the US government would like, the ambassador to Kabul warned in a secret cable leaked to the Washington Post.
  
  US politicians and the military want it sealed early this year to allow for a smooth withdrawal and planning for next year if any troops stay on.
  
  Ties with Kabul have been strained by a string of disagreements over civilian deaths, election planning and other issues, including the release of dozens of men Karzai says are innocent and the US claims are a serious security threat.
  
  Washington insists that if there is no deal, it will resort to its "zero option" and take all troops home , but Karzai has argued that is an empty threat to bolster the US negotiating position.
  
  Holbrooke, who died in December 2010, was the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and played a key role in 2009 efforts to remove Karzai from power. He paid public lip-service to the idea of a level playing field, but was working behind the scenes to ensure the opposite, Gates writes: "Holbrooke was doing his best to bring about the defeat of Karzai… What he really wanted was to have enough credible candidates running to deny Karzai a majority in the election, thus forcing a runoff in which he could be defeated."
  
  Tactics included advising candidates, attending their rallies and organising high-profile photo opportunities, the memoir claims. Karzai soon noticed the efforts, it adds.
  
  In the end, the election was plagued by serious fraud and worries about violence. The candidate who got through to a second round against the president eventually called off the vote and conceded defeat.
  
  A White House spokesman, Caitlin Hayden, strongly denied Gates's claims. "The US's interest was in a stable Afghanistan, with credible democratic elections – not in helping any candidate win or lose," she said.
  
  The Gates revelations so far
  In office Robert Gates was considered a model of discreet and bipartisan leadership. Appointed by George W Bush, he was kept on in the job by Barack Obama.
  
  Given his reputation, Washington insiders were surprised to find his memoir packed with insights that have upset both domestic and diplomatic apple carts, even if the overall tone is more therapy than thriller.
  
  Aside from revealing US efforts to skew the outcome of the Afghan elections, other highlights include:
  
  • An attack on vice-president Joe Biden, who he says lacks basic judgement: "I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades"; • The revelation that he thinks Obama "can't stand" Karzai;
  
  • His questioning of Obama's decision to send troops to die in an Afghan war that the president seemed ambivalent about: "I never doubted Obama's support for the troops, only his support for their mission."
  

 

[pakistani342]

Good find.

Wonder how this story will develop.

 

[A1Kaid]

For Robert Gates to openly admit this reveals there must be some discontent between administration and former administration officials.

 

[Falcon29]

What else...US is fighting a moral war...huh...just protecting Americans. NO, expanding our influence through immoral methods including killing people under disguise of military operation to kill 'terrorists'.

America operates like an empire...next person that says other wise piss off.

I'm tired of hearing people regard a whole few decades of US interference, violence, manipulation, CIA activities, crimes as just us fighting the bad guys.

Popular media and modern day journalists play a large factor in this as well. Poor American people have no other way of thinking other than taking the words of these popular media devils.