Winehole23
11-22-2011, 01:28 PM
Washington couldn't have felt comfortable with Karzai's "fiery" speech at the loya jirga on Wednesday when he posed as a staunch nationalist who is at loggerheads with the Americans. For establishing his nationalistic credentials, Karzai said words that have since become the butt of jokes in the Kabul bazaar:
Even if old, sick and feeble, a lion is still a lion. Other animals in the jungle are afraid of even a sick lion and stay away from him. We are lions, the United States should treat us as lions, and we want nothing less than that. We therefore are prepared to enter into a strategic agreement between a lion and America.
A lion hates a stranger entering his home; a lion dislikes a stranger trespassing its space, a lion does not want his offspring taken away at night. The lion does not allow parallel structures to operate, the lion is the king of his territory and he governs his own territory. The lion has nothing to do with others in the jungle.Then he added:
They [US presence] bring us money; train our soldiers and police, and provide security for the home of the lion. The lion does not have leisure time to do all these things. They should protect his surroundings but should not touch the lion's home. They should protect the four boundaries of the jungle.Karzai seemed acutely self-conscious that the Afghan people would not take kindly to a ruler who is so obviously the puppet of a foreign power. Shuja Shah was put on the throne by the British in 1839 out of sheer gratitude for concluding Kabul's first and only "strategic pact" with an imperial power, but could not remain in power when the British left. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MK22Df01.html
Even if old, sick and feeble, a lion is still a lion. Other animals in the jungle are afraid of even a sick lion and stay away from him. We are lions, the United States should treat us as lions, and we want nothing less than that. We therefore are prepared to enter into a strategic agreement between a lion and America.
A lion hates a stranger entering his home; a lion dislikes a stranger trespassing its space, a lion does not want his offspring taken away at night. The lion does not allow parallel structures to operate, the lion is the king of his territory and he governs his own territory. The lion has nothing to do with others in the jungle.Then he added:
They [US presence] bring us money; train our soldiers and police, and provide security for the home of the lion. The lion does not have leisure time to do all these things. They should protect his surroundings but should not touch the lion's home. They should protect the four boundaries of the jungle.Karzai seemed acutely self-conscious that the Afghan people would not take kindly to a ruler who is so obviously the puppet of a foreign power. Shuja Shah was put on the throne by the British in 1839 out of sheer gratitude for concluding Kabul's first and only "strategic pact" with an imperial power, but could not remain in power when the British left. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MK22Df01.html