No one can dispute the fact that Hamid Karzai is a corrupt public official, perhaps one of the most corrupt and ineffectual in the world. And it's understandable that President Obama is particularly upset about Karzai's lack of progress on governmental transparency, accountability, and his refusal to cut ties with brutal warlords.

But we cannot lay the blame solely on the Afghan Government. Like every diplomatic relationship, both sides of the street are effected, and when things go the way they aren't supposed to, both sides are most likely responsible.

The problem in my view is that the United States has unrealistic expectations for Hamid Karzai. Washington expects the Afghan President to severe all ties with warlords and civil rights abusers. But this would be a suicidal move if Karzai in fact caved-in to America's demands. Karzai's status as president is largely dependent on his ability to provide patronage and kick-backs to powerful (and mercelus) figures in Afghan society. Unfortunately, most of these powerful figures are warlords with their own militias and drug traffickers with their own agenda's.

If Karzai were to suddenly change the way of doing things, his administration would probably dissolve and Afghanistan would once again be susceptible to ethnic violence and civil war. The Taliban would make a comeback in the northern and western provinces, much like they did in 1994 when the movement sacked Kabul and controlled most of the country in 2 years. In this scenario, Karzai, moderate Islamists, the Afghan people, and the United States all lose.

Like it or not, Washington is stuck with Karzai for the forseeable future. Therefore, the bickering between both countries needs to stop. The U.S. mission depends on it, and Karzai's survival as a political leader depends on it. Sure, Karzai himself is an unreliable partner, but its better to have an unreliable partner than no partner at all.

http://www.depetris.wordpress.com

Poor Karzai! His Afghanistan is paying the price for US blunders.

There are three US blunders that are largely responsible for the failure of US mission and Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.

First, during the siege of Kunduz in November 2001, the Bush administration allowed Pakistan to spirit away by airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban operatives cornered by the advancing Northern Alliance in Kunduz. Pakistan relocated those Taliban cadres including Mullah Mohammed Omar in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan from where Mullah Omar’s QST has been planning raids in Afghanistan ever since.

Second, Bush administration did NOT provide sufficient troops to secure Afghanistan against Taliban.

Third, Bush recruited Musharraf’s Pakistan to fight the very terrorist threat that Pakistan itself created. So Musharraf played duplicitous game of running with the hare while hunting with the hounds. While capturing and killing some Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders based on US intelligence, Musharraf continued to shelter, protect and support Mullah Mohammed Omar’s Quetta Shura Taliban in Quetta, provincial capital of Baluchistan and Haqqani network in North Waziristan.

Obama administration has continued the mollycoddling of Pakistan at the expense of Afghanistan.

The Obama Administration’s propensity to clutch at straws as it prepares for a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan has been its illusion that there has been a ‘turnaround’ in Pakistani policies of supporting the Taliban because of the arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the second-ranked Taliban leader, by a joint team of the CIA and ISI in Karachi. The reality appears to be that the CIA stumbled upon a Taliban hideout in Karachi and the arrest of Baradar was purely coincidental. More important, his arrest was an embarrassment, as Baradar was secretly —and unknown to the Pakistanis — in touch with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a UN Envoy.

Both Mr Karzai and Baradar are Durrani Pashtuns, sharing common tribal loyalties. An infuriated Karzai now finds his reconciliation efforts with the Taliban undermined, with the Pakistanis procrastinating on his demand for the extradition of Baradar to Afghanistan. Pakistan, which for years has denied the presence of the Mullah Omar-led ‘Quetta shura’ on its soil, now brazenly demands that it should be the prime intermediary in any process of reconciliation with the Taliban — a demand the Obama Administration appears to be meekly succumbing to.

Both Mr Karzai and Baradar are Durrani Pashtuns, sharing common tribal loyalties. An infuriated Karzai now finds his reconciliation efforts with the Taliban undermined, with the Pakistanis procrastinating on his demand for the extradition of Baradar to Afghanistan. Pakistan, which for years has denied the presence of the Mullah Omar-led ‘Quetta shura’ on its soil, now brazenly demands that it should be the prime intermediary in any process of reconciliation with the Taliban — travesti a demand the Obama Administration appears to be meekly succumbing to.