Our Man in Kabul

Our Man in Kabul – David Wood, Politics Daily

… He is our man indeed. And Hamid Karzai’s casual assumption this morning of another five-year term as Afghanistan’s president, after the election runoff was canceled when his only opponent pulled out of the race, saddles the Obama administration with a king-size migraine.

The U.S. strategy in Afghanistan has rested on a central goal: building public trust in a strong, democratic central government. Sixty-eight thousand American troops are deployed there in service of that goal. The election process, beginning with a nationwide vote in August, was seen as crucial in demonstrating that democracy works and is worth the hard work and risk-taking required to support it.

Today that idea is a shambles. Now the U.S. strategy rests on an undemocratic, corrupt and weak central government, a president who cheated his way into office in an election held under American supervision, an election that even the government of Afghanistan concedes was stolen. The script couldn’t have been improved if Taliban chieftain Mullah Omar had put himself to the task….

More at Politics Daily.