Obama in Kabul

i continue to be in fairly close touch with a few on-going developments in afghanistan... i've been aware, for instance, of a continuing rift between the u.s. state and department of defense missions in the country which has been heavily scrutinized of late, and rightly so, by the u.s. ambassador... i'm also aware that u.s. special envoy, richard holbrooke, not the most pleasant guy under the best of circumstances, continues to throw his weight around, probably to the great annoyance of not only the ambassador but also anyone else who makes the mistake of crossing his path... and, of course, that doesn't even take into account the obstacles thrown up by the afghan government, karzai in particular...

President Barack Obama arrived in Kabul on Sunday for an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, his first trip to the country since becoming president and commander-in-chief of the U.S.-led war effort. Obama's brief trip was expected to include a one-on-one meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, an expanded meeting with Karzai's cabinet and U.S. officials, and a speech to American military personnel.

maybe obama decided it was time to kick a little ass and take some names... we can only hope...

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In Afghanistan, corruption starts at the top

hamid karzai was just sworn in to a second term, so let's take a look at the corruption record so far and see what's likely in store in his coming five-year term...

this is from karzai's official biographer, nick mills, writing in foreign policy...

At the start of his second term, Karzai is under immense pressure from the new governments in Washington and London to grasp the nettle and clean house. But since the day in December 2001 when he was named head of the new post-Taliban government and had the support of the vast majority of the Afghan people, he has shied away from the hard decisions that might have set Afghanistan on a more promising course. I'm not sure if he has it in him to do it now.

this from pratap chatterjee in tomdispatch...

Hamid Jalil, the aid coordinator for the Ministry of Finance, points out that wasting money on unnecessary projects ... has helped to hobble Afghanistan's progress in the last eight years. "The donor projects undermine the legitimacy of the government and do not allow us to build capacity," he says, adding in the weary tone you often hear in Kabul today, "corruption is everywhere in post-conflict countries like ours."

Former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani summed up the whole profitably corrupt system that has run Afghanistan into a cul-de-sac this way. "It's not crazy, it's absurd," he says. "Crazy is when you don't know what you're doing. Absurd is when you don't provide a sense of ownership and a sense of sustainability."

and, in spite of all the damning evidence, the u.s. decides to make nice...

As President Obama nears a decision on how many more troops he will dispatch to Afghanistan, his top diplomats and generals are abandoning for now their get-tough tactics with Karzai and attempting to forge a far warmer relationship. They recognize that their initial strategy may have done more harm than good, fueling stress and anger in a beleaguered, conspiracy-minded leader whom the U.S. government needs as a partner.

[...]

The new approach, which one official described as a "reset" of the relationship, will entail more engagement with members of Karzai's cabinet and provincial governors, officials said, because they have concluded that the Afghan president lacks the political clout in his highly decentralized nation to purge corrupt local warlords and power brokers. The CIA has sent a longtime field officer close to Karzai to be the new station chief in Kabul. And State Department envoy Richard C. Holbrooke, whose aggressive style has infuriated the Afghan leader at times, is devoting more attention to shaping policy in Washington and marshaling international support for reconstruction and development programs.

'round and 'round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows...

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Shocker...! Afghans to participate in a major U.S. policy review of Afghanistan...!

O.M.G...!

Afghanistan will send a team to the US to take part in a major policy review of the region, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced.

In a joint news conference with the new US envoy in the region, Richard Holbrooke, Mr Karzai said he was "very thankful" to be involved in the talks.

In recent weeks US officials have been critical of Mr Karzai's leadership.

US President Barack Obama, who regards Afghanistan as a priority, accused his government of being "very detached".

The BBC's Martin Patience, in Kabul, says Mr Karzai and Mr Holbrooke appeared keen to smooth over any apparent discord at the news conference on Sunday.

But our correspondent says it is widely thought that Mr Karzai is no longer popular in the White House - and it may take more than a news conference to change that perception.

ok, look... i'm sitting right here in kabul reading this slightly breathless bbc story about afghans ACTUALLY BEING INVOLVED in talks involving THEIR OWN FRIGGIN' COUNTRY...! WTF...!! the truly breathless news would be that they WOULDN'T...! on this, my first full day back in afghanistan on my third extended visit, i have had at least three conversations with afghans about the fact that, gosh and golly, it's THEIR GODDAM COUNTRY and that folks like me SHOULD BE HERE TO HELP THEM FIGURE HOW TO RUN IT THEMSELVES, not TELLING THEM WHAT TO DO AS THOUGH THEY SOMEHOW WORK FOR US...! goddamit, goddamit, goddamit...! the u.s. needs to pull its head out of its ass on this issue once and for all... WE DON'T RUN THE WORLD...!

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