Afghan President Bringing Bush a Gloomy Report on Security

[UpInArms]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 — On the eve of his Camp David meeting with President Bush, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan painted a bleak picture of life in his country, saying that security had worsened and that the United States and its allies were no closer to catching Osama bin Laden than they were a few years ago.

“The security situation in Afghanistan over the past two years has definitely deteriorated,” Mr. Karzai said on the CNN program “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” in an interview that was taped Saturday in Kabul. It was broadcast Sunday while Mr. Karzai was en route to Camp David for a two-day meeting with President Bush.

<snip>

As for catching Mr. bin Laden, Mr. Karzai said: “We are not closer, we are not further away from it. We are where we were a few years ago.”

The White House had hoped to use the meeting to showcase what Gordon D. Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, called both the “progress and challenges” in Afghanistan.

Mr. Karzai, though, spotlighted the remaining work more than the progress, in what amounted to a cry for help. He is trying to rebuild his war-torn country and strengthen his fragile government while confronting a resurgent Taliban, a booming opium trade, government corruption and mounting civilian deaths. In Al Qaeda, he also faces a terrorist network that, American intelligence officials say, has reconstituted its leadership in the mountainous border territory shared by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/asia/06karzai.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[MadMaddie]

1. You see the WH believes that by having limited troops and

diplomants in Afghanistan and along the Pakistani border that everything will fix itself by majic.

They have nothing but failure to show. Let's see how they try to pull good news out of a dismal report. Get your popcorn ready folks.

<snip>
The White House had hoped to use the meeting to showcase what Gordon D. Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, called both the “progress and challenges” in Afghanistan.
<snip>

[lovuian]

2. They FAILED and WILL FAIL Iraq Lebanon Afghanistan

it just goes on and on

and as they fail they feel the need to oppress more and more

the more your oppress the stronger the rebellion gets

[legin]

3. I’m beginning to wonder if I might be missing something

I’d always assumed there were two options:

1. You don’t invade a country

OR

2. You invade a country with enough troops to put it back together again after you’ve finished trashing it.

However there seems to a third option :

You invade a country with NOT enough troops so that it disintegrates into total chaos after you’ve finished trashing it. Somehow this is in your interests.

[varun]

4. Of course Afghanistan is destabilized

with Pakistan churning out Jihadis, and US taxpayers giving billions to Musharraf, what else do u expect?

[EFerrari]

6. Pakistan has no stake in a destablized Afghanistan because

that puts them at risk. There are millions of Afghani refugees in Pakistan.

I heard a great lecture by the governor of Baluchistan province. And he took apart why the US is faling miserably in Afghanistan. He pointed out, for one thing, that there has never been a strictly military victory there -- that you also had to have a political strategy and for that, you needed to build a consensus among the different groups there.

We failed to do that very well.

[truthisfreedom]

5. More bush failure.

Who could have predicted that everything bush got involved in would be an utter failure?

[calimary]

7. Gee, that's funny...

To hear him talk - at this press conference with king george at Camp David (at least what I saw this morning), you'd think everything is just percolating along just ducky over there. Schools, clinics, peace, solidarity, success, happy-happy joy-joy. I guess as far as reporters go, there must never be heard a discouraging word. Bad for georgie's image, dontchaknow? :eyes: