SPIEGEL:

Mr. President, right after you took office in January 2002, you told us that Afghanistan was in the intensive care unit. Almost two years have gone by since then, and yet you and foreign diplomats and advisors in Kabul and elsewhere are still living in virtual fortresses for fear of terrorist attacks.

Karzai: That's true. We have serious security problems throughout the country. The terrorists are trying to undermine Afghanistan's reconstruction.

SPIEGEL: In what way?

Karzai: By attacking reconstruction teams and advisors. The terrorists are trying to bring about a condition of general lawlessness in the country.

SPIEGEL: The murder of a young French woman working in the UN's refugee assistance program in Ghazni is a sad example of this.

Karzai: The entire nation is shocked by this evil deed; it is a serious reversal for us. The people in Ghazni were so angry that they wanted to lynch the perpetrators and burn down their houses. I told the governor there to stop them because we didn't need more violence.

SPIEGEL: Were the murderers really members of the Taliban?

Karzai: Both were professed Taliban, following Taliban instructions; our investigations have clearly established that. A former Ghazni deputy police chief gave one of the murderers money and a moped, and assigned him to kill this particular woman.

SPIEGEL: Why this particular French woman?

Karzai: Because she had been extraordinarily successful in bringing back and reintegrating 55,000 Afghan refugees.

SPIEGEL: How do you feel about the reaction of the United Nations?

Karzai: The UN has suspended its relief operations in southeast Afghanistan as well as in neighboring Pakistan for two weeks. I can hardly blame them for that.

SPIEGEL: Earlier, you were pretty certain you would be able to track down the Taliban leader Mullah Omar's clique. This hope turned out to be deceptive. At this point the Taliban are again advancing in several provinces.

Karzai: They are not advancing, but they are operating as terrorists. For that you need few people. We can't stop this terrorism as long as Pakistan does not cooperate. This point is crucial....

SPIEGEL: ...because the Taliban or al Qaeda terrorists can come and go across the mostly open border with Pakistan?

Karzai: I have discussed this with Pakistan's President Musharraf, and I told him that we in Afghanistan can only defeat this imported terrorism if Pakistan cooperates. There is no other way.

SPIEGEL: Now for the first time you are denouncing Pakistan directly. Does this end your diplomatic restraint toward your neighbor?

Karzai: President Musharraf and I have a very friendly relationship. Terrorism plagues both our countries. We must put an end to it. I think that Pakistan could and should do more to combat terrorism.

SPIEGEL: Specifically what?

Karzai: For example, they should arrest the Taliban leaders who are in Pakistani territory. Or stop the clergy who are spreading hatred in the name of their religion. The same goes for the Koran schools that are run by the Taliban. These things must be eliminated.

SPIEGEL: Isn't it a little simplistic to blame all the problems you have with terrorism on others?

Karzai: Of course we also have security problems of our own making - with warlords, gangs of criminals, the drug trade. But the real terrorism comes from the outside.

SPIEGEL: Drugs is the key word. The UN complains that under your rule opium production far exceeds that under Taliban rule.

Karzai: It is true that opium production has increased, and we don't know who is behind this. Certainly the Taliban terrorists have a part in it; they finance their weapons supplies through it. But there are also other criminal interests and profiteers involved.

SPIEGEL: After you took office you announced that you would be making it your top priority to combat the poppy culture. What became of that?

Karzai: We will continue to fight against this godless activity with all our strength, and we will continue to destroy the poppy fields. The growing of opium poppies goes against Islam, international laws, and the best interests of Afghanistan - and it promotes terrorism. It simply must be stopped.

SPIEGEL: If I may say so, Mr. President, that's exactly what you said a little less than two years ago. Yet opium production has increased.

Karzai: Unfortunately, we made a big mistake. After consulting with the international community, we paid farmers to plow under their poppy fields. But that just gave others an incentive to plant more poppies.

The international community, including Germany, will have to work more closely with us in the campaign against the opium mafia and in trying to cut off the supply lines. So far not enough is happening in this area.

SPIEGEL: Has the most recent dismissal and reassignment of governors, among them the important one in Kandahar, also been a response to the spreading terrorism?

Karzai: Yes, that too, but my primary concern was to set up a more efficient administration.

SPIEGEL: And in addition you got into a fight with Ismail Khan, the powerful warlord and governor of Herat by depriving him of his military role.

Karzai: We have to create new administrative structures in Afghanistan. In the future no military officer will also be able to hold a civilian job. The people are demanding that I institute such a policy.

SPIEGEL: Are the 5,500 soldiers of the ISAF, the international peacekeeping forces who are currently deployed in Afghanistan enough to guarantee the stability of the country, or do you need stronger support?

Karzai: The Afghan people are very glad to have the ISAF soldiers present. It would be nice if more of them could be stationed in the provinces. But that's up to the governments of the countries sending these troops.

SPIEGEL: Does it make sense to send foreign troops into fairly calm cities - for instance the Germans who are now in Kunduz - instead of taking the risk and sending them into the unstable southeast?

Karzai: Kunduz also needs help during its reconstruction. The Germans who are stationed there will enable the Americans and other troops to become more active in the south. Each country has to decide that for itself.

Of course it would please me if we had ISAF soldiers in Zabul, Paktika, or other southeastern districts where our administrative and security operations are still very weak.

SPIEGEL: That would require the additional deployment of several thousand men. Have you confronted the ISAF countries with this idea?

Karzai: I have mentioned it to the heads of some friendly nations, among them Mr. Schröder and Mr. Blair, as well as the NATO commander. I can't say how many troops would be required. That is more of a technical matter.

SPIEGEL: The former Taliban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil has been released from American custody. It is said that through him you wanted to win over so-called moderate Taliban members to cooperate with you. Is there something to these rumors?

Karzai: The Taliban are Afghans. There were thousands of them in this country. Not all of them were guilty of crimes. Many are simple people who could continue to live and work in this country.

We are pursuing only between 50 and 100 men who were once in the Taliban leadership and who are responsible for murders and other crimes. The others are cordially invited to come home and to take part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

SPIEGEL: Does this offer also apply to Mutawakil?

Karzai: About a month ago I received a letter from him. He informed me that after his release the U.S. authorities would no longer have any problems with him, and that he would like to meet with me. Afghanistan, he wrote, had been betrayed by certain circles during the rule of the Taliban. He now wanted to help the country as much as he could.

SPIEGEL: Have you talked with Mutawakil?

Karzai: Not yet. But it may still happen.

SPIEGEL: Mr. President, you have now been in office for 23 months. What have been your greatest successes so far, and what has gone wrong in the reconstruction of the country?

Karzai: Among our greatest successes is the fact that inflation has dropped to zero. Today the afghani is one of the most stable currencies in the world. Only a year ago you got 80 afghani in exchange for one Pakistani rupie. Today you get 120 Pakistani rupies for 80 afghani. The economy is booming; there are enormous employment opportunities...

SPIEGEL: ...and on the streets of Kabul everyone is fighting constant traffic jams.

Karzai: I am happy to see such terrible conditions against which even our German-trained police officers are powerless.

SPIEGEL: What is this upswing based on?

Karzai: It is based on a general optimism; of course, it is also supported by help from abroad, and a flourishing trade and the vitality of Afghan society.

The country's infrastructure is being renewed everywhere; roads are being built. The highway from Kabul to Kandahar is scheduled to be completed by December. We are making progress.

SPIEGEL: Is that also valid in the political sphere?