May 17, 2011

May 12, 2011
Mr. Hekmat Karzai, the Director at Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, in Kabul, Afghanistan made a recent appearance on Spotlight, a 26 minute, in-depth, daily interview programme in Moscow, which focuses on current events in Russia and across the world. Russian journalist Aleksander Gurnov spoke to Mr. Karzai about the killing of Osama bin Laden and what it meant for the war on terror and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region as a whole, in a Spotlight interview called, “A World Without Bin Laden.”

The interview covers Mr. Hekmat Karzai views on the future of al Qaeda and the consequences of Osama’s death in the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai explained that the death of Osama Bin Laden was a major success, not only for the U.S. in its global war on terror, but also for Afghanistan and the region. Though he cautioned that Osama’s death does not mark the end of al Qaeda, as other charismatic figures in the organization are ready to take over.

Mr. Karzai described the role of Bin Laden with al Qaeda as that of a motivator, a figure that offered ideological guidance rather than operational guidance. Therefore, al Qaeda which he segmented into three different groups (the organization, the network and the ideology) can function without bin Laden as there are key figures who can assume key roles in the organization and the network pillar, and as far as the ideology is concerned Osama cannot be replaced, asserted Mr. Karzai and illuminated that it is not necessary to replace the ideologue as the ideology of al Qaeda has already spread and continues to spread regardless. Consequently, when asked if al Qaeda could be completely disremembered, Mr. Karzai said yes, but he explained that thus far the approach taken towards al Qaeda has been military and now a strategic approach is required to go after the ideology and address that. Only then can we envision an end to al Qaeda.

Moreover, the death of the al Qaeda leader could create more opportunities, explained Mr. Karzai, it could put the reconciliation efforts on track in Afghanistan and a political settlement with the Taliban could take place in the immediate future. Afghanistan has been telling the international community for years that the war against terror was being fought in the wrong county and that they needed to look across the border. It is difficult to assume that Bin Laden could have been living in Abottabad, Pakistan since 2006 without any support system and an investigation into the killing of Osama must take place to evaluate the possibilities of how he could have been living 35 miles from the capital city of Pakistan, all these years.

Please click on the link below to watch the video broadcasting of “A World Without Bin Laden,” in discussion with Mr. Hekmat Karzai.

http://rt.com/programs/spotlight/world-bin-laden-karzai/