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.”
So this is why we’ve sacrificed the lives of 1,000 U.S. soldiers? asked Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. This is why we’ve already spent $200 billion to pull Afghanistan out of the Dark Ages? Karzai is a garden-variety dictator who will do “whatever serves his personal power,” and “once we clear, hold, and build Afghanistan for him, he is going to break our hearts.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
To determine if Obama’s visit had any impact, said Major Garrett in FoxNews.com, watch what happens to Karzai’s brother. Ahmed Wali Karzai, head of the local government in Kandahar, has been linked to the bustling opium trade and has done nothing as the Taliban “rebuilt its strength” there. The U.S. will launch an assault on Kandahar in June. Will Ahmed Karzai still be running the city afterward?
Obama did the right thing in delivering a “pointed message” to Karzai, said The Christian Science Monitor in an editorial. “It was not long ago that Obama was seen as weak,” but over the past year he’s learned that toughness and resolution count. Let’s hope Obama’s education continues.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Horror stories of women having to carry nonviable fetuses'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Haiti interim council, prime minister sworn in
Speed Read Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns amid surging gang violence
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 26, 2024
Cartoons Friday's cartoons - teleprompter troubles, presidential immunity, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published