A neo-imperialist collaborator

"No occupation force can stay in Afghanistan against the will of the Afghan people. None ever has, none ever will" - these are the words of the incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is seeking a second term in the upcoming presidential elections in August. He knows the Afghan history and is therefore correct when he says that no occupation force has ever stayed against the will of the Afghans but seems shy to apply the same historical truth to his own presidency, which heavily relies on the crutches of the foreign occupation forces - Nato, ISAF and Americans - for its sustenance. Can he then be called a true head of the Afghans or is he merely a prop of Western neo-imperialism? Nick B Mills' work sheds considerable light on Karzai's American connection.
Millions of Afghans had migrated to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and so did Karzai's family. His father took up work in an office of Professor Sibghatullah Mojaddedi's ANLF organisation in Quetta and Hamid assisted in that office, which was ANLF's operations department whose task was to arrange the military supplies for the mujahideen. He was not a legendary warrior like Ahmad Shah Massoud, Abdul Haq or Jalaluddin Haqqani, although he did carry out military operations against the Soviets in 1987 and 1988. On the contrary, he was known more as the 'best-dressed Afghan' intellectual who was well at home in dealing political issues with the interested Western officials and organisations.
Before he slipped into southern Afghanistan to rally the Pashtun population against the Taliban shortly after 9/11, he had been visited by American officials in Quetta and assured of support by the British, French and the Italians. No matter how fierce the Afghans are in their resistance to the US, some of them know that they can achieve success only if they will have the backing of the Americans. This was the reason why, when he was organising the resistance against the Taliban in the Oruzgan province, a group of tribal leaders warned him: "They told me that if I had the United States with me I would win, but if not, they said, 'Don't even try. Don't damage yourself, your history, or the people of this area.'" This shows the might of the American power. There is another example that explains how some of the Afghans are beholden to the invincibility of the US strength. Whenever Karzai solicited the support of the Afghan King Zahir Shah to topple the Taliban regime, the King would invariably enquire: "Do you have the United States with you?" and when Karzai would say: "Yes, we have the Americans with us," the King would assuringly reply: "Good. Now we can do it."