Karzai ridiculed for staying at lavish London hotel

LONDON: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been mocked in Britain for staying at the Claridge’s - one of the most expensive and luxurious hotels in the world, where oil oligarchs, royal families, rich playboys and Arab sheikhs stay.
Hamid Karzai even beat Pakistani politicians who normally stay in expensive hotels as he came around for trilateral talks with a 40 strong entourage - mainly his bodyguards, and indulged in luxuries at the hotel in the style of a king.
The irony was all the more clear as only a few days earlier he asked his staff to rein in their expenses, particularly on foreign trips. Rooms in this hotel start at £300 and go up to £6,900 a night. The hotel staff thought that Karzai, who wears flowing designer robes, was some rich Arab ruler and not president of the war-ravaged and poor Afghanistan.
Karzai and his officials, who were in Britain for talks with Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari hosted by David Cameron, stayed at London’s Mayfair hotel in style and the bill for all 40 of them must have run into tens of thousands of pounds.
His stay at the hotel was described as an unfortunate choice given that the trip coincided with Mr Karzai issuing a new decree requesting his government departments put off purchases of luxurious or expensive equipment, and buy domestic, rather than foreign, products where possible.
In an order, staff were even asked to cut back on their use of envelopes in the order, which said: “All the ministries and government offices are required to economise the expenses of stationery, oil materials, repairs and other expenditures, to avoid any unnecessary expense and above-standard per diems for trips out of the country, and to reduce expenses.”
Guests at the five-star hotel, known for its Art Deco style and royal and celebrity patrons, can feast on scrambled eggs and caviar for breakfast for £75 a plate, have a lighter lunch with the £21 chicken sandwich, and then push the boat out at Gordon Ramsay’s fine dining restaurant for dinner, where a seven-course menu costs £125 a head excluding drinks. “Designed by Veere Grenney, this elegant art deco-style apartment is decorated in gentle lilac with light oak floors” and “an idiosyncratic blend of old and new furnishings,” says the hotel’s website. The nightly tariff, available on request, is a cool £6,900 a night. Impecunious VIPs can opt for the cheaper suites at about £1,000 a night, said the Guardian.
“But even a budget-conscious, non-drinking guest is not going to come off lightly after a stay in Claridge’s. A non-alcoholic raspberry crush in the Fumoir bar will set the purse back £8, while classic afternoon tea, albeit accompanied by a selection of finger sandwiches and a selection of pastries, costs £40 a head,” said the paper.
According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), all heads of state invited on official visits to the UK are treated to stays in first-class hotels such as Claridge’s. The cost of 10 of Karzai’s entourage was paid for by the British taxpayer, with the remainder on the Afghan tab.
An FCO spokeswoman said: “Heads of state on guest of government visits are able to stay in a range of hotels of a similar level, including Claridge’s. Accommodation is determined by a variety of factors, including suitability for a head of state, location and security. As you would expect, we do not go into detail on accommodation or other arrangements for visiting heads of state.”
The FCO is said to be proud to have run the trilateral event hosted by the prime minister in Chequers but as reported in this paper the remarks of Karzai against Pakistan and British armed forces have already cast a shadow over the talks. Karzai took several swipes at Pakistan during his interview with The Guardian and ITV.
Newspapers said that given Afghanistan’s dependence on foreign aid, the expensive trip will not go unnoticed. “Around half of the country’s $7bn government budget for 2013-2014 is funded by the international community, according to the tolonews website, and the president is thought to be keen to cut costs in anticipation of international withdrawal from his country,” said the Guardian.