Gradually, however, Hamed came under the influence of Kirkpatrick's philosophical soul mates, notably Marin Strmecki, a Republican essayist and political facilitator with the Smith Richardson Foundation. Strmecki worked at the Pentagon under Dick Cheney in the first Bush administration, along with Lewis "Scooter Libby " and Zalmay Khalilzad. It was during Hamed Wardak's reappraisal of the world, via these American political heavyweights, that he came into contact with a group of upwardly-mobile players on Washington's Afghan-American scene: the Karzais; specifically, two of the six Karzai boys " Qayum and Mahmood. Unlike their younger brother Hamid, who had spent much of his life in Pakistan, Mahmood and Qayum were accomplished US-based businessmen.
The Karzai brothers took a great interest in Wardak Junior, and he enjoyed the benefits of the Karzais' flashy and high-flying friends. After the September 11 Terror Attacks, the Karzais made Hamed the Vice President of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, which was founded by Mahmood Karzai. As I mentioned briefly in my piece, our Neocon Ex-Congressman Don Ritter happens to be the co-founder of this organization. Hamed was also appointed to an advisor's post with President Karzai's first Finance Minister, Ashraf Ghani. No small accomplishment for the barely 30 year old Hamed!
Hamed Wardak's most productive venture in tapping into the US Defense Sector Pot(s) of Gold began with joining a Washington DC contracting firm, Technologists Inc., founded by Aziz Azimi, who happened to be a very close buddy of Qayum Karzai. Here is a further detail on this by e-Ariana:
"Hamed Wardak's new alliances proved extraordinarily advantageous as George W. Bush launched his "war on terror, particularly with Khalilzad and Strmecki enjoying direct access to Vice-President Dick Cheney's office.
Do you want to check out the kind of contracts, the kind of millions, we are talking about with Technologists Inc.? Here is one for you:
Technologists, Inc., Rosslyn, Va., was awarded on Jan. 5, 2009, a $96,090,519 firm fixed price contract for the construction of an Afghanistan National Police National Training Center. Work will be performed in Maydan Wardak, Afghanistan, and is expected to be completed by Mar. 31, 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Web bids were solicited on Oct. 1, 2008, and 13 bids were received. U.S. Army Engineer District, Afghanistan, is the contracting activity (W917PM-09-C-0005).
That's right. Just one of these contracts is worth nearly $100 million for connected Afghan carpetbaggers cashing in on wars suffered by ordinary American tax payers and US soldiers.
Back to the Wardaks and Karzais:
"
"By the time Khalilzad took up his ambassadorship to Kabul in Dec. 2004, Strmecki had been appointed Rumsfeld's "Afghanistan Policy Co-ordinator. That same month, Karzai removed his Minister of Defence, the Northern Alliance's Mohammed Fahim, a Tajik. Faim's replacement: Rahim Wardak.
You heard it right. Our General Wardak was promoted and taken back to Afghanistan to serve in Karzai's regime as the Minister of Defense. Was he given citizenship when he was brought back to the US to settle? No one is really talking. Did anyone in Afghanistan question having US citizens in their quasi democratic government posts? No one in the US media is reporting. If you are trusted within the Afghan diaspora in the DC area you'll hear hushed comments about Wardak, his corrupt practices, and the rumors, fairly consistent rumors, of his close connections to the poppy world.
Back to Wardak Junior in Washington DC; With his dad now in Afghanistan as the Defense Minister, and with his Karzai partners and friends, he was busy running from one pot of gold to another:
"During this period, Hamed Wardak's Washington DC-based firm, Technologists Inc. (Ti), benefited from several large contracts, some arranged directly with the US Defense Department, others via the Afghan Ministry of Defence. Ti's website boasts that it was the first Afghan-American firm to be awarded a prime contract by the US government. Its portfolio has been fattened by a cornucopia of construction projects, including border crossing stations and the ANA's Logistics and Command Headquarters, a counter-narcotics "campus where the US Drug Enforcement Agency and its Afghan counterparts will be based [Emphasis Added] cell block renovations to Kabul's huge Pul-i-Charkhi prison, and three industrial parks.
Now recall the hushed voices about our General Wardak's possible shady connections to heroin and mafia in Afghanistan among the Afghani diaspora in the Washington DC area. Now this same general happens to become the Minister of Defense, while his son runs companies with contracts for services rendered to our very own US Drug Enforcement Agency in Afghanistan, which is supposed to be fighting the heroin trade over there. Could it get more ridiculous and ironic than this?!
Of course it can. As I was working on this piece this New York Times headline popped up on my screen:
KABUL, Afghanistan " Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
