What follows Karzai?

[spindrifter]

Afghans killed in attack on US convoy

Monday 26 June 2006, 13:04 Makka Time, 10:04 GMT

A bomber has blown himself up in a vehicle near a coalition convoy outside the main US base in Afghanistan, amid reports that the Afghan president is losing support among Afghans and some foreign governments.

<snip>

The latest incident comes as The Washington Post newspaper reports that Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, is losing support as a Taliban-led insurgency escalates and his government fails to stem endemic corruption.

"The president had a window of opportunity to lead and make difficult decisions, but that window is closing fast," the newspaper cited an unidentified foreign military official as saying.

On Thursday, Karzai complained about what he called a lack of full co-operation from his foreign allies, saying US-led forces had adopted the wrong approach in Afghanistan and urged Western powers to provide more help in training and equipping the Afghan army and police.

<snip>

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/57833F11-0887-4522-8C92-3F641A3E54B7.htm

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The article goes on to intimate that part of the problem is Karzai's "short-term" decision-making--trying to make things work in the present, rather than concentrating on "nation building." And, of course, there is the lack of "rule of law," as anyone with access to any news is aware. But who is out there, if Karzai leaves?

[msongs]

1. a taliban takeover cuz bush DID NOT FINISH THE JOB before

starting his personal vendetta against sadaam, using the entire US military in the process and murdering tens of thousands of people including thousands of US troops.

and he calls himself a christian. I think Jesus would vomit if he knew.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[MadMaddie]

2. The window of opportunity was when our soldiers

were there before they were yanked out to go to Iraq.....
this was the pivotal moment of history.....this among other tactical errors has led to the current situation.....Afghanastan and Iraq may be be lost because of this administration....we don't hear a lot about this on the news do we?

[spindrifter]

3. No--gee, I wonder why?

[gratuitous]

4. The deluge?

I think the analysis by another poster is quite right: Short attention span Chimpy pulled the troops out of Afghanistan before the job was finished, started in on Iraq, and didn't have the manpower (without a draft) to sustain both occupations.

And so the right wing talking point from election 2000 comes true: The military is depleted, but it's not Clinton's fault. It's all George W. Bush, who didn't reckon the cost before he made war on his neighbor. What sort of Christian elects to go to war not once, but twice? And then fails to count the cost (Luke 14)? Hard to reconcile that with Bush's public persona of being a good Christian man in my estimation . . .

[spindrifter]

5. Afghanistan was a

disaster for the British and later a disaster for the Russians. Chimpy went in for the short-term, knowing tha it would be nigh impossible to do any sort of solution for Afghanistan as a country because of the incredible diversity of leadership--everything from totally westernized, highly educated people to illiterate tribal chieftains. His administration probably were closer to understanding what they faced there than they were in Iraq. But Iraq beckoned with possibilities of oil and a border on Iran--with even more oil.
This is one of the problems that comes from having a prezidnut who knew so little about foreign policy.