A couple days ago, Karzai blamed U.S. and British troops for letting the Taliban back into Helmand province (by some reports) or Afghanistan as a whole.

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DOWNING Street yesterday hit back at criticism from Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, who suggested British troops had drawn the Taleban back to his country.

His remarks about the role of UK forces in volatile Helmand province were made a day before Gordon Brown was due to meet him at Davos. Mr Karzai told a newspaper: "Both the American and British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing, and I made the mistake of listening to them. And when they came in, the Taleban came."

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Source.

Then today, the media are reporting that Karzai has rejected the UN's choice for envoy to Afghanistan:

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Afghanistan has made it clear it does not want Paddy Ashdown to be the new United Nations envoy to the country.

The British peer served as the UN's High Representative and EU envoy to Bosnia from 2002 to 2005. [...]

The Afghan leader has recently criticised the performance of British troops fighting the Taliban in the restive Helmand Province.

He apparently sees Lord Ashdown as too strong a figure, who could look like a rival, our correspondent says.

Meanwhile, there is unease in London and Washington about the president's political authority, with the hope being that Lord Ashdown could help bolster the entire international effort in Afghanistan.

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Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Karzai also reluctantly accepted his image as "a puppet of America" but he shied away from accepting reported U.S. doubts that NATO troops lacked the training to combat the Taliban.

On his perceived image as an impotent leader in thrall to the U.S. administration, Karzai, said he was willing to shoulder insults in return for U.S. assistance.

"Me a puppet? My God.

"Anyway, Americans have helped Afghanistan tremendously. The American people have a feeling for Afghanistan a very, very great feeling.

"The U.S administration has helped Afghanistan and if we are called puppets, or if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to America, then let that be my nickname.

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Karzai the US Puppet

If he is turfed from office, it would probably be best for him to not go to his hometown:

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Many people celebrated the Taliban's retreat, but the joy was especially intense in the hometown of the country's new leader, Hamid Karzai. His tribesmen gathered around the cameras and listed their hopes for the new government: a school, paved roads, maybe even a soccer team.

That optimism has vanished in Karz. The village where the President spent his childhood is now crowded with the makeshift tents of people running away from recent battles, and the local view of the coming year fits with the bleak consensus that grew stronger in the first weeks of 2008: The situation is getting worse.

Abdul Baki, the school's deputy director, has decorated his office wall with two large portraits of Mr. Karzai, whom he described as an old classmate.

Despite his apparent fondness for the President, the schoolmaster said he's nostalgic for the days of Taliban law and order.

“The fighting gets worse and worse,” Mr. Baki said. “Under the Taliban, we had better security, no corruption, no stealing, no murders. Now we have a better economy, but the economy is mostly for rich people.”

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Optimism turns to gloom in Karzai's hometown

My guess is he will either end up in Miami (the home of the war criminals and puppets) or Houston (the home of big oil). Either place would welcome him with open arms.

[ 26 January 2008: Message edited by: a lonely worker ]

As Karzai Loses His Grip, A Familiar Face Looms

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It wasn't long ago that Afghan president Hamid Karzai was seen as a dependable U.S. ally on par with Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf. But as Afghanistan has fallen into violent chaos—along with Pakistan—tensions have erupted between Karzai and the United States and Britain. One of the most worried U.S. officials is Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born ambassador to the United Nations, who is seriously considering running for Karzai's seat himself when the next elections are held in 2009, according to several U.N. and U.S. government officials.

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quote:

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"Anyway, Americans have helped Afghanistan tremendously. The American people have a feeling for Afghanistan a very, very great feeling.
"The U.S administration has helped Afghanistan and if we are called puppets, or if I am called a puppet because we are grateful to America, then let that be my nickname.

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quote:

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“The fighting gets worse and worse,” Mr. Baki said. “Under the Taliban, we had better security, no corruption, no stealing, no murders. Now we have a better economy, but the economy is mostly for rich people.”

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Ah, all in the name of "the economy", the economy for "the rich". Yes, and our military personal and innocent struggling Afghans are paying the price, so the rich can get richer, with their lives.

And what I get from this Karzi no longer wants to play puppet, and indeed is talking back, and the USA want a "new" man in town.