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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hamid Karzai Comfortable in Position as Interim Leader

Aired January 29, 2002 - 06:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai is expected to attend President Bush's State of the Union address tonight, and throughout the day he'll be meeting with lawmakers to discuss reconstruction plans for his war-shattered country.

CNN's Michael Holmes reports on Mr. Karzai's image both at home and abroad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hamid Karzai may be as well known overseas for his cloak as his politics. The media here have dubbed it the technicolor dream cloak, but its formal name is japan (ph). The hat is lambs wool, a karakulee (ph). They're worn by older, educated, wise men. Karzai, considered by people who know him to be all of those things.

He's making an impression in ways other than clothing, of course, in the early days of his administration receiving parades of tribal leaders. Most of those meetings behind closed doors, CNN getting access to one of them. He's also met businessmen.

HAMID KARZAI, CHAIRMAN, AFGHAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT: These are our people. We're supposed to be making the country for them. So it's very, very, very valuable. That's our legitimacy.

HOLMES: Consensus and inclusiveness, the dominant motifs of his leadership, a sense of humor too.

KARZAI: And our lunch will get cold if you keep asking...

HOLMES: On the world stage, he's gone from meeting U.S. senators to world leaders.

His comfort level with those leaders is obvious, but as important is his comfort coping with the tribal and ethnic divides that crisscross Afghanistan and make consensus difficult.

So far he's widely accepted. Why? Because he has the backing of the international community. He has a hand on the checkbook for foreign aid. Also because he's not too well known here, he seemed as more acceptable than many better known leaders who perhaps carry baggage from the past. A tribal leader himself, Indian educated, much traveled and with impeccable English, Karzai spent much of the 1980's in the United States. Some of his family still in the U.S.

He served as a junior minister in the 1990's, more recently a warrior against the Taliban, crossing from a base in Pakistan to lead troops against the Taliban, at one time being evacuated by U.S. helicopters before returning to fight again.

Would Hamid Karzai be elected national leader if a vote were held today? Probably not, he's still not well known enough here. Some people have their regional favorites, and others are hoping for a return of the former king.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: No doubt about this though, he has a lot of charisma -- Hamid Karzai does.

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