Afghanistan's Karzai to visit state

BY BILL HORD
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, will receive an honorary degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and visit cattle feedlots during a one-day visit to Nebraska later this month.

Thomas Gouttierre, director of UNO's Center for Afghanistan Studies, said Wednesday that Karzai will arrive in Nebraska late May 24. He will spend May 25 visiting the study center in Omaha and touring agriculture facilities in Cuming County.

"He has an interest in agriculture," said Gouttierre, who was a friend of Karzai's father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, an influential tribal leader in Afghanistan who was assassinated in 1999.

The younger Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan in September.

Afghan leaders hope that the election will bring an end to the war and strife that have plagued their country in recent years.

The landlocked nation is dependent on farming and raising livestock, mostly sheep and goats.

Karzai's desire to see agriculture facilities will take him to one of the most successful agricultural regions of the state. Most Cuming County cattle feeders grow their own corn and market about 700,000 head of cattle a year, said West Point cattleman Harry Knoebbe.

"We're excited to show him the cattle industry of Cuming County," Knoebbe said. Karzai is expected to meet with farmers and ranchers during a luncheon in West Point.

Karzai's trip to the United States includes a meeting with President Bush and other stops that have not yet been disclosed.

Gouttierre said details of the trip, including security arrangements, are being worked out.

Karzai's visit will allow UNO to present him with an honorary doctorate, an honor planned a year ago that was delayed because of scheduling difficulties.

Karzai visited UNO in 1999 as his country's leaders were trying to plan how the country would operate if the Taliban ruling party could be overthrown. At that time, UNO hosted a weeklong conference of Afghanistan leaders to discuss the post-Taliban governmental structure.

The Taliban were finally overthrown with the help of U.S. forces in search of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

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