Steve Kurczy

Staff Writer

Almost five months after the bombing of Sept. 11, interim Afghanistan leader, Hamid Karzai, gave a bow from the First Lady's box at President Bush's State of the Union address.

As an international lobbyist Karzai has risen in popularity and become ``Washington's newest diplomatic star'' according to Todd Purdum of The New York Times. In the wake of Karzai's tour of Washington, a senior Bush administration official commented, ``Mr. Karzai's best hope for consolidating control at home may well be raising money and support abroad, as a means of impressing upon Afghanistan's rival factions that he is the one who can deliver the country.''

Karzai, inaugurated a month ago, is to lead the Afghan government for six months leading into a two-year transition government that will prompt toward democratic elections.

Mr. Karzai gave a simple message of thanks for help in overthrowing the Taliban and a plea for more financial and military help to repair years of devastation. ``As long as the war on terrorism is on, in whatever form it is, we will require the help of the American and other international security forces.''

Welcomed as a conquering hero, Karzai has been continually calling the Afghan people of the United States to trust in him, and return home. ``Without your cooperation, we're not going to make it,'' he told several thousand Afghan Americans at Georgetown Univ.'s McDonough Gymnasium. ``You are the ones who are trained - the academics, the professionals,'' he said. ``Welcome to your country. Come back to your country.'' He then said to a cheering crowd, ``And if somebody wants to come and be president, she is also welcome.''

And to the Afghan people who wanted reassurance that the 20 years of oppression and suffering - through the occupying Soviets, the often-corrupt and cruel warlords that replaced them in 1984, and the Taliban - were really over, he said ``I will promise you. If there is cheating, if there is corruption, I will stop it. We will have independence inside our country too. We will make it easy to come back to your country, where you will be safe, where your investments will not be jeopardized or stolen.''