Afghan's Fired Ambassador to US Isn't Going Home

(Oct. 18) -- Afghanistan's long-time ambassador to Washington, summarily fired last month amid controversy in Kabul, told The Huffington Post that he won't return to his native country but will seek to serve it from within the U.S. private sector.

Said T. Jawal, 52, was press spokesman and chief of staff to Afghan President Hamid Karzai before he took the post in Washington in 2003. He has defended the controversial president in the past, but he told Huff Post that Karzai "didn't articulate a clear vision for the future of the Afghanistan" -- and suggested that the U.S. hasn't either.

Jawal's future in the post was shattered in September, when photos circulated in Kabul of an alleged embassy gala marking the holy month of Ramadan showing women wearing sleeveless outfits. Jawal has said the photos were a stitch-up, and that he was on an official trip to Latin America on the date the party was alleged to have taken place. He has expressed regret in previous interviews that many capable officials have been dismissed in recent months due to factional battles within the Kabul government.

Jawal told Huff Post's Dan Froomkin that the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy is "more informed and capable" than that of the Bush administration, but he was critical of the plans for a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces and concerned that the process of reconciliation with the Taliban has not been sufficiently thought through.

Read more at The Huffington Post.