President Hamid Karzai, speaking to the delegation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), has asked the US to provide timeframe for the withdrawal of occupation forces from the country. Wasn't it yesterday when Karzai begged for more troops to maintain his writ? He now demands a timeframe for their ouster; how quickly the circumstances change. Karzai is a US satrap in Afghanistan as General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was in Pakistan. Both have played soldier-soldier in fighting the US imposed War On Terror in their respective countries at the cost of alienating their people. And both, to appease their masters, arrested innumerable innocent countrymen to suffer untold miseries in notorious black hole - the Gitmo torture facility. Afghans are as disgusted with Karzai as Pakistanis were with General (retd) Musharraf for carrying out the superpower's agenda in the region. But Afghan ruler has suddenly mustered courage to protest against the killing of innocent people: "...we have no power to stop the planes (NATO planes), if we could, if I could...we would stop them and bring them down." "I wish I could intercept the planes that are going to bomb Afghan villages, but that is not in my hands." He said that if he had something like the rock attached to a string, called chelak in local dialect, to bring the kites down, he would use it against the planes bombing Afghan villages. Karzai is contrite over the role he played, resulting in killing of thousands of innocent people and rendering thousands more homeless. While Karzai appears to regret his role and wishes to assuage the deep wounds of his compatriots, if his friendly overtures to negotiate with Taliban in Dubai are any indication, General (retd) Musharraf remained impenitent until the end of his rule when he was compelled to resign. Interestingly, both satraps had no love lost for each other although they played the same Russian roulette at the behest of their handler - the US. General Musharraf is visiting UK to socialise with friends and to play golf. He even appeared teeing off at the golf course in the company of his buddies. Nobody knew about his departure before he packed his bags and flew out on the quiet. Were he popular among the silent majority in the country, as he always claimed, he should have at least waved his silent admirers goodbye. Alas, that was not to be. But the retired general is not worried about his safety as is Hamid Karzai because the former enjoys the powerful institutional patronage unlike his counterpart. He has recently boasted that his institution would ensure his security of life and property. But Karzai lives dangerously; he must evoke the fate of former satraps in his country, particularly Muhammad Najibullah. As the last Soviet-imposed ruler of Afghanistan, according to the New York Times report of November 13, 2001: "Najibullah was tortured and castrated before being taken to a public square nearby, shot, then hanged at dawn from a lamppost while still alive." What an abominable end for a former secret service chief and president, dragged out of bed during midnight from UN headquarters in Kabul. Pakistani society has been magnanimous towards adventurers and satraps; Afghans have been ruthless in exacting revenge against them. Therefore, President Hamid Karzai's attempt to distance himself from his Western supporters is understandable. He has failed to consolidate his rule in the country despite the presence of 65,000 foreign troops, mainly US and UK, and 1,30,000 Afghan security forces. At the same time, his handlers are disenchanted with him for failing to control corruption and flow of drugs. And to make matters worse for him, he faces elections next year. As a last resort, Karzai has blamed the West for the deteriorating security situation in the country and accused the NATO forces for failing to target Taliban sanctuaries in the adjoining tribal belts in Pakistan. When a blame-game begins between a pet and his master, the pet's days are numbered. Arundhati Roy phrased it better in her book, An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire: "When a pet loses the affection of his master, it is exterminated without mercy." The problem with surrogates is their failure to assess and to seize the right moment to melt away. Trappings of deceptive authority do not allow them to quit. Karzai has a chain of restaurants laid out for him in the West; it is time for him to say goodbye to the War On Terror and depart to supervise his business instead of playing with high stakes. Do we imagine it is the end of the road for him with or without his chelak? The writer is a freelance columnist E-mail: pinecity@gmail.com