A US bodyguard walks with his machine gun in front of Afghan President Hamid Karzai (rear L) after Karzai arrived at the US Rhein Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany.
In his book “Decision Points”, former president George W. Bush discussed Hamid Karzai and how the CIA saved his life.
“With Northern Afghanistan liberated, our attention turned to the south. George Tenent reported than an anti- Taliban movement was coalescing around a Pashtun leader, Hamid Karzai. Karzai was not a typical military commander. He grew up near Kandahar, earned a college degree in India, spoke four languages, and served in the Afghan government before it was taken over by the Taliban.
Two days after our bombing campaign began Karzai hopped on a motorcycle in Pkistan crossed teh border and rallied several hundred men to take Tarin Kot, a small city near Kandahar. The Taliban discovered Karzai’s presence and sent troops to kill him. With his position about to be overrun, the CIA dispatched a helicopter to pick him up. After a brief period, Karzai returned to lead the resistance.” pg 201.
Tarinkot or Tarin Kowt (Pashto: ترين کوټ) is the capital of Urozgan Province (also written “Uruzgan”) in southern Afghanistan in the Tarinkot District. It has a population of about 10,000, with some 200 small shops in the city’s bazaar and was considered a hotbed of Taliban activity.
Hāmid Karzay; born 24 December 1957) is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 22 December 2001. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Source: Profile Hamid Karzai http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/asia/july-dec01/karzai_12-03.html
During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as Chairman of the Interim Administration.
He was then chosen for a two-year term as Interim President during the 2002 loya jirga (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared winner and became President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He won a second five-year term in 2009 (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8337832.stm).