Then the US military decided to look the other way over corruption in Afghanistan, I objected. But even that was not enough for Hamid Karzai, the former Bush puppet, appointed because he worked for the US energy industry.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai intends to impose rules restricting international involvement in anti-corruption investigations, a move that U.S. officials fear will hobble efforts to address the endemic graft that threatens support for his administration in Afghanistan and the United States.
Karzai wants to circumscribe the role of American and other foreign law enforcement specialists in two key anti-corruption organizations in the Interior Ministry by not allowing them to have direct involvement in investigations.
"The management will be Afghan, and the decision-makers will be Afghan, and the investigators will be Afghan," Mohammad Umer Daudzai, Karzai’s chief of staff, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. Foreign advisers, most of whom work for the U.S. Justice Department, will be limited to "training and coaching, but not decision-making," he said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
Karzai must have learned well from Bush, because he’s fo0llowiung the Republican example, putting his own foxes in charge of investigating the chicken coop. This move is bound to make his government even more unpopular with Afghanis. Since strong popular support for the client government is a necessary element to any COIN (counter insurgency) effort, I say again that Petraeus strategy in Afghanistan cannot succeed as long as Karzai is in power.
8 Responses to “Karzai Guarantees COIN Failure”
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TC
This war is bullshit. Obama is dead wrong. Unfortunately he is a slow learner. I’d love to ask him why exactly are we in Afghanistan. Oh yeah to keep the Chinese out.
Tim, that’s not correct. He is there to deny the ground to AQ, who would return if the Taliban take control. That was his position when we voted for him. I oppose the war not because of Obama’s motives, but because the Republicans fouled it up beyond reparability.
Tim we are in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban at bay. Karzai has let his power go to his head. Anti-corruption charges led by hand picked Karzai officials? Yeah that will go far. I say we “accidently” assisinate him and put the people to a real vote; they can’t like this asshole any more that we do. Yeah, it’s against the law signed by Ford but it’s not like we haven’t done it before. 👿
Lisa, if we withdraw all support from Karzai, there will be no possibility to assasinate him. The Afghanis will do so before we have an opportunity.
Karzai is completely unsuited for his leadership role. Without U.S. support, I doubt he would be able to hold onto power in his little pocket of Afghanistan.
Thanks Ahab. I completely agree.
I dunno, I tend to agree with Tim as far as WTF are we DOING in Afghanistan? If we are trying to keep the Taliban at bay, we had better plan on building some McDonalds and Pizza Huts… Of course, that’s probably EXACTLY what we are doing over there! Then there’s the unbuilt Pakistan leg of the Caspian natural gas pipeline and the 1 trillion worth of mineral resources…
Nikolai, my disagreement with Tim was over Obama’s motives. The Caspian pipeline was Bus.h’s reason for invading and for installing Karzai. Had he pursues OBL instead of the pipreline, we would not have the mess we have now.