[2] 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.

His uncle, Habibullah Karzai, served as the Afghan representative at the UN[14] and is said to have accompanied King Zahir to the United States in the early 1960s for a special meeting with U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

[2] Following this incident, Karzai took over as khan of the tribe and decided to work closely with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which was led by Ahmad Shah Massoud.

"[23] As the U.S. Armed Forces were preparing for a confrontation with the Taliban in September 2001, Karzai began urging NATO states to purge his country of al-Qaeda.

[24] After the 7 October 2001 launch of Operation Enduring Freedom, the United Front (Northern Alliance) worked with teams of U.S. special forces and together they overthrew the Taliban regime and mustered support for a new government in Afghanistan.

[27] On 5 December 2001, Hamid Karzai and his group of fighters survived a friendly fire missile attack by U.S. Air Force pilots in southern Afghanistan.

[28] Former members of the Northern Alliance remained extremely influential, most notably Vice President Mohammed Fahim, who also served as the Defense Minister.

Karzai has been, to varying degrees of success, attempting to negotiate and form amicable alliances with them for the benefit of Afghanistan as a whole, instead of aggressively fighting them and risking an uprising.

[citation needed] In 2004, he rejected an international proposal to end poppy production in Afghanistan through aerial spraying of chemical herbicides, fearing that it would harm the economic situation of his countrymen.

[40] In a September 2006 video broadcast, Karzai stated that if the money wasted on the Iraq War had been actually spent on rebuilding Afghanistan, his country would "be in heaven in less than one year".

His unpopularity and the likelihood of his victory formed an atmosphere with a kind of national demoralization, which could discourage many Afghans from voting and dash hopes for substantial progress after the election.

[46][47] During the runoff, he secured the support of influential power brokers, including the Ismailis in Afghanistan, represented locally by Sayed Mansur Naderi.

Both events attracted nearly a hundred thousand attendees, including men, women, and youths, demonstrating the support of the Afghan Ismailis for Hamid Karzai.

[51] Shortly afterward, the parliament began its winter recess, lasting until 20 February, without waiting for Karzai to select additional names for his cabinet.

The move not only extended the political uncertainty in the government but also dealt Karzai the embarrassment of appearing at the London Conference on Afghanistan with nearly half of his cabinet devoid of leaders.

[56] In January 2010, Karzai set the framework for dialogue with Taliban leaders when he called on the group's leadership to take part in the jirga to initiate peace talks.

[57] In April 2010, Karzai urged Taliban insurgents to lay down their arms and air their grievances while visiting a violent northern province, adding that foreign forces would not leave the country as long as fighting continued.

[60] Karzai's relations with NATO countries was strong, especially with the United States, due to the fact that it was the leading nation helping to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan.

[64] Further strain in relations with the United States resulted in 2014, when Afghanistan, joined Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela as the only countries to recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea.

The United States, European countries, and most other nations wholeheartedly condemned the Russian takeover, as well as the validity of the subsequent Crimean Referendum on its annexation to Russia.

In December 2007, Karzai and his delegates traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for a usual meeting with Pervez Musharraf on trade ties and intelligence sharing between the two Islamic states.

[66] Karzai also met and had a 45-minute talk with Benazir Bhutto on the morning of 27 December, hours before her trip to Liaquat National Bagh, where she was assassinated after her speech.

"[78] Some international criticism has centered around the government of Karzai in early 2009 for failing to secure the country from Taliban attacks, systemic governmental corruption, and widespread claims of electoral fraud in the 2009 Afghan presidential election.

During his speech at the RK Mishra Memorial in New Delhi, Karzai told the audience that "The signing of the strategic partnership with India is not directed against any country.

[108] On 14 September 2015, provincial police chief Gen. Daud Ahmadi claimed that Hamid Karzai had stopped an attack on a Taliban training camp in Logar province of Afghanistan.

In February 2012, two boys of who were pardoned were rearrested in Kandahar Province along with three adult militant suspects, and that they told intelligence officers they had been recruited for suicide missions.

[145][146] Furthermore, a special court set up personally by Karzai in defiance of constitutional norms sought to reinstate dozens of candidates who were removed for fraud in the 2010 parliamentary elections by the Independent Electoral Commission.

[147] On 28 April 2013, The New York Times revealed that from December 2002 up to the publication date, Karzai's presidential office was funded with "tens of millions of dollars" of black cash from the CIA in order to buy influence within the Afghan government.

"[151] According to The New York Times, many members of the Karzai family have mixed their personal interests with that of the state, and become hugely influential and wealthy by murky means.

[163] In October 2013, Karzai's administration and the Afghan Intelligence agency were found to be communicating with the Pakistani Taliban about the shifting of power that was expected to occur if the U.S. forces withdrew in 2014.