The New York Times reports today: “Zalmay Khalilzad, who was President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Afghanistan, could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, according to senior American and Afghan officials.” The Times adds that, according to U.S. and Afghan officials, the two have described the position “as the chief executive officer of Afghanistan.”

JIM INGALLS
SONALI KOLHATKAR
Ingalls and Kolhatkar are co-authors of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence. Kolhatkar said today: “Khalilzad, a U.S. citizen, is the most overt symbol of U.S. domination of Afghanistan. A close look at his post-9/11 role in Afghanistan reveals his responsibility for directing many of Karzai’s worst mistakes. … Not only does it show an utter lack of respect for Afghan democracy, but presupposes a Karzai win as though there were no other alternative.”
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