Word: kabul
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...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...
...Just hours before Obama touched down at Bagram air base on Sunday evening, Karzai had flown home from Tehran, where he celebrated the Persian new year with America's least favorite foreign leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. That followed a day trip to Kabul earlier this month by the Iranian President. (See pictures of President Obama in Afghanistan...
...White House annoyance at Karzai is underscored by the rising U.S. casualty figures in Afghanistan: in the first three months of this year, 83 American servicemen were killed, nearly double last year's toll during the same period. U.S. diplomats and military commanders in Kabul fear that the gains made against the Taliban, at a heavy cost in NATO and American sacrifices, will be wasted unless Karzai changes his ways and delivers good governance to his people. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...
...hope is that Obama's tact and personal touch may have succeeded in patching up the running feuds between the Afghan leader and the top U.S. representatives in Kabul. For better or worse, Obama and Karzai are stuck with each other, and they will need each other's help if they are ever going to repair Afghanistan to the point that U.S. troops can starting heading back home...
...Kabul, officials are suspicious of Islamabad's long-delayed help in catching the Taliban. A senior official confided to TIME that Karzai, whose relations with the U.S. ambassador and military commanders have been frosty of late, is worried that the U.S. and other NATO countries may be in such haste to end the war that they will agree to a pact with Pakistan that will put Afghanistan firmly back in Pakistan's orbit...