Karzai Is At It Again!

The headline grabbing exploits of Hamid Karzai against his saving grace, the U.S. military, are as predictable as our economy is not.  Of course a good chunk of it has gone to support those exploits.  So what now?

He has given our special forces two weeks to abandon Wardak,  a hotbed of Taliban activity. More alleged misconduct but this time it's not what we've done directly, but what the Afghans we've been training have done. You know, the usual torture and murder against the locals. Talk about a stretch!

I have long been suspicious of his reasons for cozying up to the Taliban. There are so many possibilities. He's term limited and will be out of office sometime in April 2014.  Or will he?  Maybe he wants to challenge the constitution. Certainly not unheard of in that part of the world.

Maybe he's trying to assure safe passage out of the country so he can enjoy the millions he has stashed who knows where. A remote possibility might be to change his allegiance to the Taliban in order to regain office at some point.  Who knows.

It could even be because a woman, Fawzia Koofi, has declared she will run for the presidency.  In Afghanistan? Yep. After a long and difficult road to gain her current stature she has managed to become an MP and has as her platform the support of women's rights and oppression of corruption.  She is one brave woman and I'd like to think she is strong enough to have put some actual fear into those who would oppose her.

So back to why Karzai is systematically rendering us impotent.  The militias we are training are not all loyal to him.  They are more loyal to the tribal leaders where they dwell.  They are being trained to protect their lives and leaders village by village.  You can be sure both Karzai and the Taliban have a knot in their gut over that one.  Plus the thought of a woman as President certainly doesn't sit well.

They'll be out to destroy her.  The easiest way to do that I would think is to get us out of there.  I give Karzai credit, it's a demanding balancing act.  He needs our money, he just doesn't need us.  Unfortunately for him they are a package deal.

I have no doubt that Obama will keep our withdrawal on schedule since he has no interest in Afghanistan. But Karzai needn't worry.  The money will continue to flow unless Congress get the courage cut it off.  I don't see that happening either.  It's just that the next puppet government will benefit rather than Karzai unless it's a member of his family at which time he will demand payback for making them rich along with himself.

Unless it's Ms. Koofi.  I can hope her cause is not a lost one for it's long overdue. Over here we'd arm her against danger with a whistle; over there perhaps those home grown militias are ready for something more than Karzai and the Taliban have to offer and are willing to defend it.