Karzai Would Back Pakistan in War with U.S.

The oft-perplexing president of Afghanistan says he'd never let his "brother" Pakistan down.

Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, said in a televised interview that should Pakistan and the U.S. ever go to war, he would back up Pakistan, a country from which Islamist militants have been waging war against the Karzai regime and NATO troops for nearly a decade. Karzai, who has a habit of saying things that rankle his allies around the world, said that "Afghanistan is a brother" to Pakistan, and would support it in any conflict, whether it's against long-time foe India, one of those Central Asian states, or even the Great Satan. Gee, that's some loyalty from a guy who owes his entire presidency to U.S.-backed forces who threw the Taliban out of power, oversaw his election, and filled his government's coffers with billions in aid money over these last few years. Either way, this little row is just further proof that trying to parse any modicum of logic out of Karzai is next to impossible, outside of his "say anything to preserve power" schtick.