What's Gotten into Hamid Karzai?

What has gotten into Hamid Karzai? The Afghan president has recently been doing his best to irritate the Western countries which keep him in power. But the wily leader knows that he has to show his independence if he is going to survive the era after a NATO withdrawal.

Has Afghan President Hamid Karzai gone completely insane? That, at least, is what long-time associates of Karzai are asking themselves these days.

The Afghan president has twice stunned his Western allies with provocative comments in the space of just three days. First he claimed that "foreigners" were behind massive vote rigging in the presidential and provincial council elections last September. Then he announced that he would defect to the Taliban if Western countries continue to put him under political pressure.

What on earth has happened to the West's former darling, a charming head of state who is famous for his elegant silk coat and polished English?