Cannot Retake Kabul News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Just giving the public what they want. do you see what's going on? >> no, frankly afghans see the same things that we do, and they're very disturbed by it. abdullah abdullah, karzai's main challenger and who is also a physician, he said, look, karzai is undermining our country by alienating our major backers, and he is doing that. he said also i'm a doctor, what he's doing is not normal. and i think that is something that afghans see. karzai's emotional health has been a concern to diplomats in kabul, those who deal with him. they know he's prone to tie rra and outbursts. some of the things we...

Diplomats in kabul. those that deal with him. they known he is tied to outbursts. some of the same things we have seen publicly this week have been going on in private for months or years. >> you having suggested that he might be using drugs. serious man. you are a diplomat of long standing. these are undiplomatic words. you must have come to them carefully. are you -- convinced that hamid karzai has a drug problem? >> i said that one of the explanations based on what sources inside the palace have said is that he's used -- may be using drugs. i don't know that. but i wouldn't have said it if ...

The taliban or would not have the possibility of being dominated by the taliban. you are giving up on the broader mission of afghanistan and in retreating to a very -- much smaller counterterrorism issue. correct? >> yes. and as well as preserving the stability and non-pashtun areas which is at least half the country. we are in a car we cannot win. and we also cannot lose. in the sense that the taliban cannot retake kabul. they got there in the 1990s when the whole world turned away and on pakistani tanks. that's not going to happen again. they can't take the non-pashtun areas. so even if we w...

Kabul, defending the non-pashtun parts of the country. i also think that we -- it is important that we have a -- we take a different approach. the white house spokesman was right now to call karzai on his remarks to say that they were untrue. and troubling. but he was wrong to say that karzai was the democratically elected president of afghanistan. he's not. the afghan people know that. should send a message we understand that. there are going to be parliamentary elections in the fall in afghanistan. karzai has been trying to manipulate the system so that he will appoint not only the election ...

Correct? >> yes. as well as preserving the non -- the -- the stability in the non-pashtun areas which is at least half the country. we are in a war that we cannot win, and we also cannot lose, in the sense that the taliban cannot retake kabul. they got there in the 1990s when the whole world had turned away, and basically on pakistani tanks that is not going to happen again. they can't take the tajik other non-pashtun areas. so even if we were to reduce our presence, i don't think the situation would look different from what it is now. you would have a -- an autonomous tajik and hazare region ...