President Hamid Karzai is clearly an astute politician. There are few politicians capable of the amazing feat of attaining a coalition of voters that otherwise despise each other. I doubt my colleague, Bouhammer would vote for him for dog catcher. Troy's criticisms are honest and factual. I will point however that we are reading it through the filter of the media. And we both understand that the media is promoting their own agenda.
I'll even suggest that Karzai is playing the media like a fiddle in order to get his foreign policy agenda achieved by Obama. Karzai is even a great diplomat. When Senator Obama showed up in his house making demands and chiding him like a child, Karzai played the consumate patient adult, though he undoubtedly wished to allow his Afghan pride reply in harsh tones. Karzai knew there was a good chance he would have to work with a President Obama and that he still needed the United States. He checked his pride and culture for the good of his Nation.
So, like a good leader, he listened. He heard Obama's campaign promises and now he is playing him against his own words. Obama said Afghans need to take the lead. Karzai now demands we let
Afghans take the lead. He knows full well TF Phoenix is and has been working towards that goal for years. He understands the challenges of that. He has Afghans around him all day long.
"I love this one line, Hamidzada said that international forces should be “mentors and as backup and support for our forces.”
"Hey IDIOT!!! That is the basic mission of Task Force Phoenix which is in its 8th year. This is what ETTs have been trying to do, but until you start getting rid of corruption, kick out the bad soldiers, and find soldiers who want to be soldiers for the good of their country and not just for a paycheck then the ANA will never step up and lead anytihng."Bouhammer, 1/27/2009
Obama said he will send more aid, more troops and more emphasis to Afghanistan. Karzai knows he needs more US Warriors and endorses the real means to increased security. But he still has a scar from his first meeting with Obama and as a Warrior, nearly killed during the routing of the Taliban from his Nation, doesn't trust Obama's lack of knowledge between tactics and strategy, or that politicians make policy, not strategy.
In his fear of Obama interfering in strategy and tactics, Karzai has demanded a greater role in how the Coalition runs the war in his nation. Karzai is playing Obama's arrogance and stubborness. He has studied the man that disrespected him and will use his greater maturity, his greater diplomacy, and his greater political skills to achieve what is in the best interest of his continued presidency.
Of course, all of this is merely my opinion, but much of it is formed based on second-hand knowledge of the President of Afghanistan and the close examination of the record of stubborn arrogance of our new President, who is still insisting on closing Gitmo and a 16 month retreat from Iraq, advisors to the contrary be damned. Our own arrogant politician that still calls for a surge in Afghanistan while not admitting it worked in Iraq.
And Karzai is also an Afghan, whose loyalty is strong and his memory of disrespect long. But he is an educated Afghan with patience, diplomatic skills, a cultural understanding of America, and a penchant for politics that allows him to loosely control the egos of Provincial Governors and Warlords turned Police Chiefs and Generals.
He understands the depths and the heights of the corruption that pervades both his government and his culture. He has dealt with uneducated Afghan Warriors on the battlefield and the egotistical warlords that command them. And he has been challenged by the dirty tactics of Western journalists.
Stumble It!
