Karzai Inaugurates Parliament After Blaming West for Creating 'Chaos'

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 26, 2011 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai inaugurated parliament this morning more than four months after a fraud-filled election, but did so begrudgingly and only after blaming the West for pushing the country to the verge of "chaos."

Karzai and his allies, upset at the outcome of the September election and worried about losing candidates responding violently, created repeated roadblocks to today's ceremony, including a special tribunal to investigate fraud that critics said was unconstitutional.

Karzai's actions caused some Western officials to question whether he was an adequate partner. But Karzai blamed the political paralysis of the last few months on the United Nations and the international community, releasing a stinging rebuke that shows he continues to blame the West for his own political weakness and continues to tap into anti-Western sentiment to score political points.

"Some foreign countries started interfering and questioned [the creation of the special tribunal]. And they started to create chaos in the country, urging the candidates to inaugurate parliament even without the president's presence," Karzai said in a statement released a few hours before the inauguration. "So in order to avoid foreign interference and in order to avoid chaos, I decided to meet with the winning candidates. And I convinced them that even after we open parliament, they should accept the decision of the special tribunal."

Just because Afghanistan has a parliament for the first time in six months does not mean the political instability is over. Karzai's office released statements from losing candidates in which one warned they would "go to the mountains and fight for our lost Afghanistan." And the special tribunal is expected to try to unseat more than 30 candidates, according to a senior government official. It's not clear if those candidates would hand over their seats without a fight.

"We'll be working through this for some time," sighed a Western official.

By inaugurating parliament but threatening winning candidates with a special tribunal whose results can't be questioned, Karzai is trying to satisfy two difficult constituencies: the international community and 2,500 losing candidates, 150 of whom barricaded themselves in the presidential palace all night. In his speech to parliament, he lightly criticized the West but did not mention the losing candidates.