Word: afghanization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...details of President Barack Obama's weekend conversation with Afghan President Hamid Karzai remain shrouded in secrecy, but it's unlikely that Obama would spend 26 hours aboard Air Force One flying to and from Kabul just to pat Karzai on the back. Not only is the White House frustrated over the rampant corruption in Karzai's government, whose ability to earn the support of its own people is the linchpin of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, it is also increasingly concerned over the Afghan leader's growing coziness with Iran. (See "Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan...
...make deals with several unsavory warlords, who are once again represented in his Cabinet. Opposition figures say that these warlords are running their government departments like personal cash machines. Rather than dining alone on rice and kebabs with Karzai at the palace, Obama insisted on being joined by Afghan Cabinet ministers - including a few technocrats trusted by the U.S. but not by Karzai - to drive home the anticorruption message...
...Karzai had enjoyed cordial relations with former President George W. Bush, but Obama's team of Afghan advisers came in believing that the President, who showed little skill or enthusiasm for reining in the warlords and corrupt technocrats, was part of the problem rather than the solution. Karzai's mistrust of Washington grew during last fall's presidential campaign, when he became convinced - with good reason - that U.S. State Department officials were mounting a last-minute charge to champion other candidates...
...Karzai is also at odds with the Obama Administration over how to pursue the planned reconciliation outreach to the insurgents. The Afghan leader insists that such efforts will only bring peace if they include negotiations with senior Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar, but right now the U.S. insists that outreach efforts must be confined to peeling off what it calls the "accidental terrorists" - those who joined the Taliban for money or as a result of tribal connections - while continuing to hunt down the pro-al-Qaeda leaders of the Afghan insurgency, which would include Mullah Omar...
...Pakistan is also letting the Obama Administration know that it is willing to exercise its leverage over the Afghan insurgents - but at a price, first and foremost in restoring the Pakistani influence in Kabul that was lost when the U.S. ousted the Taliban. Just before a high-level Pakistan delegation set off for Washington, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi declared, "We've done our bit ... We've delivered. [Now you] start delivering...