Hamid Karzai (born 24December 1957) is the 12th andcurrent President of Afghanistan,taking office on 7 December2004. He became a dominantpolitical figure after the removalof the Taliban government in late2001. During the InternationalConference on Afghanistan inBonn, Germany, on 5 December2001, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve asix month term as Chairman of the Transitional Administration.
He was then chosen for a two years term as the Interim Presidentduring the 2002 Loya Jirga in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the 2004presidential election, Karzai won and became President of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan. He again won the 2009 presidential election afterhis opponent withdrew from the run-off race.
Seeking peaceSince late 2001 Karzai has been trying for peace in his country,going as far as pardoning militants that lay down weapons and join therebuilding process. However, his offers were not accepted by the militant groups. In April 2007, Karzai acknowledged that he spoke to somemilitants about trying to bring peace in Afghanistan. He noted that theAfghan militants are always welcome in the country, although foreigninsurgents are not. In September 2007, Karzai again offered talks withmilitant fighters after a security scare forced him to end a commemorationspeech. Karzai left the event and was taken back to his palace, where hewas due to meet visiting Latvian President Valdis Zatlers. After the meetingthe pair held a joint news conference, at which Karzai called for talks withhis Taliban foes. “We don’t have any formal negotiations with the Taliban.They don’t have an address. Who do we talk to?” Karzai told reporters. Hefurther stated: “If I can have a place where to send somebody to talk to, anauthority that publicly says it is the Taliban authority, I will do it.”
In December 2009 Karzai announced to move ahead with a Loya Jirga(large assembly) to discuss the Taliban insurgency in which the Talibanrepresentatives would be invited to take part in this Jirga. In January 2010,Karzai set the framework fordialogue with Taliban leaderswhen he called on the group’sleadership to take part inthe jirga to initiate peacetalks. A Taliban spokesmandeclined to talk in detail aboutKarzai’s offer and only saidthe militants would make
