The U.S.-Afghan Partnership
The U.S.-Afghan Partnership – Hamid Karzai, Washington Post opinion.
Nearly nine years ago, terrorists killed thousands of civilians and destroyed iconic symbols of American prosperity and progress. Before that, the same terrorists had taken Afghanistan hostage and had killed and tortured our people for years. These terrible conditions brought our two nations together in a partnership. As in any genuine partnership, this has not been an easy ride. We have had our share of disagreements over some issues and approaches. What has kept us together is an overriding strategic vision of an Afghanistan whose peace and stability can guarantee the safety of the Afghan and the American peoples.
The many sacrifices of both Afghans and Americans have led to tremendous achievements. We are grateful for America’s contributions and will always remember your resolve in standing by us. Now and during my visit to Washington this week, I hope to convey my deepest condolences to families of those who lost their lives in Afghanistan.
When I began my second term as president, I put forth a vision for our nation of Afghan leadership, sovereignty and full ownership of providing security, governance, justice, education, health and economic opportunity. That is a vision I know that President Obama shares…
More at The Washington Post.
Reasons to be Anxious About Afghanistan – David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion.
The Obama administration’s strategy for Afghanistan is to gradually transfer responsibility to the Afghans, starting in July 2011. But on the eve of President Hamid Karzai’s visit to Washington, there’s little evidence so far to demonstrate that this transfer process will actually work.
The much-touted offensive in Marja in Helmand province in February succeeded in clearing that rural area temporarily of Taliban insurgents, at least by day. But plans for the Afghans to provide more security and better governance there are off to a shaky start, officials at the State Department and Pentagon say.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s boast in February that “We’ve got a government in a box, ready to roll in” to Marja now sounds wildly over-optimistic. A senior military official concedes that this phrase “created an expectation of rapidity and efficiency that doesn’t exist now.”
The official Pentagon line, after a White House review Thursday, is that there’s “slow but steady progress” in Afghanistan. But the senior military official cautions that 90 days after the offensive, “Marja is a mixed bag,” with parts of the area still controlled by the Taliban and Afghan government performance spotty. A top State Department official agrees: “Transfer is not happening” in Marja…
More at The Washington Post.
The Military Tries Nation-building in Afghanistan – George Will, Washington Post opinion.
When asked whether nationalism is putting down roots in Afghanistan’s tribalized society, Gen. David Petraeus is judicious: “I don’t know that I could say that.” He adds, however, that “we do polling” on that subject. When his questioner expresses skepticism about the feasibility of psephology – measuring opinion – concerning an abstraction such as nationalism in a chaotic, secretive and suspicious semi-nation, Petraeus, his pride aroused, protests: “I took research methodology” at Princeton. There he acquired a PhD in just two years: His voracious appetite for knowing things is the leitmotif of his career.
Petraeus thinks he knows that President Hamid Karzai is widely viewed as “the father of the new Afghanistan.” Although there was widespread fraud in the election last August that extended Karzai’s presidency by five years, Petraeus says “ordinary people are not seized with anxiety about electoral corruption.” Besides, “there is a democratic culture in these tribal councils,” which are “like caucuses, if you will.”
Perhaps, but the limitations of this culture are evident in Petraeus’s belief that part of the Taliban’s appeal, where it has had appeal, has been its ability to offer “dispute resolution” that is sometimes harsh but at least is rapid. And, Petraeus adds, with an inconvenient candor, the Taliban are sometimes “less predatory” than the Afghan security forces. Although strengthening the central government is a U.S. goal, that government’s corruption and brutality might make the localities less than eager for it to be strengthened…
More at The Washington Post.
