Americans became very familiar with the name (and lauded fashion sense) of former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai during America’s long military engagement in Afghanistan after 9/11. Many Americans will be surprised to see new Afghan president Ashraf Ghani during a big 60 Minutes Memorial Day special. Because Ghani became president of Afghanistan at about the same time the general American population stopped paying acute attention to the “longest war in US history.”
What happened to Karzai, who was president of Afghanistan for nearly a decade between 2004 and 2014 –working closely with US presidents Bush and Obama? (Karzai won consecutive five year terms in two general elections.) Karzai’s second term as President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ended in September of 2014. Karzai is still active politically, recently discussing Afghanistan-India relations directly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite the billions in aid Karzai’s administration received from the US, Karzai slammed US intentions in Afghanistan in his farewell address, saying the US didn’t want peace but had its “own agenda” in Afghanistan.
