Karzai’s growing defiance

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan to confront Karzai for failing to combat rampant corruption, government ineptitude, and drug trafficking.

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan this week to deliver a stern message to President Hamid Karzai, amid signs that Karzai’s defiance and resentment of the U.S. is growing. During the six-hour visit, Obama chided Karzai for failing to combat rampant corruption, government ineptitude, and drug trafficking. Karzai has been scolded for these failures for years, but Obama’s trip—his first to Afghanistan since taking office—was intended to hammer the message home. Relations have been prickly between the two leaders since Karzai’s fraud-tainted re-election in August.

In recent weeks, the Afghan leader has been openly complaining that Americans are not in Afghanistan to build a peaceful country but to “dominate” the region with a large troop presence, The New York Times reported. To spite the U.S., Karzai recently hosted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Kabul, where the Iranian president delivered a fiery, anti-American speech. A White House official said the administration is trying to keep pressure on Karzai to reform his government, without alienating him entirely. “We’re coming to terms with dealing with the Karzai we have.”

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