Karzai Defends His Choice of Running Mate

Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended his controversial choice of running mate today. Yesterday he announced that he had chosen Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a top commander in the militant group Jamiat-e-Islami during Afghanistan's civil war. The choice was highly criticized by human rights groups.

Karzai said in Washington, however, that critics had ignored Fahim's contributions fighting the Soviets in the 1980s and in ousting the Islamist Taliban earlier this decade.

"The country needs to be united and Fahim will be a factor of stability and unity for the Afghan people," he said in remarks in Washington a day before a summit with U.S. President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

"We need a man on whom we can rely in hard times," said Karzai, who is seen as all but unassailable in the Aug. 20 presidential election. His opponents are scrambling to unite behind a single leader ahead of the vote.

"He will be a vice president that will be able to go to any part of the country and deliver," he added.

Karzai said he also embraced Fahim because he was a former guerrilla, a group that has not been well represented in Afghanistan's new government and parliament despite their sacrifices against the Soviets.

Fahim also "contributed immensely in the war against terrorism shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan," and would be good for both countries, he said.