Word: afghanistans
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...although neither is willing to disclose the content of their private conversations - but style often predicts substance in foreign policy; neither Obama's gauziness nor Clinton's inconsistent bluntness overseas seems particularly solid. There is a growing perception that the Administration's policies have been thwarted across the board: Afghanistan is a mess, Iran seems ready to scuttle the nuclear negotiations, there's no progress in the Middle East, the Syrians and North Koreans remain recalcitrant, the Russians have been offered a freebie on missile defense, and the Chinese have been given a pass on human rights with no apparent...
President Barack Obama came into office believing that President Hamid Karzai's government was a liability to the pursuit of U.S. goals in Afghanistan. On the campaign trail, Obama had identified corruption and failure to deliver services and security as reasons to doubt Karzai's ability to convince Afghans that the war against the Taliban was worth fighting. Still, Obama declared Afghanistan "the good war" and bet his presidency on winning it. He could soon have regrets about hitching his political fortunes so closely to a country on the brink of failure...
...battlefront is equally grim. October saw the highest monthly death toll of U.S. soldiers since the war began, and on Nov. 3 five British soldiers were killed when fired on by an Afghan policeman - it is still unclear if the shooter was a Taliban plant. (See pictures of Afghanistan's dangerous Korengal Valley...
...Karzai on Nov. 3 admitted that "Afghanistan's image has been tainted by corruption." Speaking at his first press conference since his re-election was confirmed, he said, "We will strive, by any means possible, to eradicate this stain." But while his speech was big on promises, many Afghans fear little will change. As Karzai spoke, he was flanked by his new Vice President, Marshal Fahim, a warlord accused of several human-rights violations and whose selection by Karzai as a running mate caused consternation in the West. Just a few hours earlier, Abdul Rashid Dostum, another notorious warlord...
...Karzai's re-election casts doubt over the prospects for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to achieve its goals. General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, insists that the war cannot be won unless there is an effective government in place to partner with Western troops and grow the Afghan security forces. Now Obama is forced to make his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan in the knowledge that the mission's Afghan partner for the foreseeable future will be one whose ability to deliver has long been questioned, even by Obama. And this...