President Obama made a secret, unannounced visit to Afghanistan over the weekend, met with the Afghan President Hamid Karsai and expressed his "growing vexation" with the man, particularly over "corruption". Can it be Obama is really "vexed" with Karsai? Was this truly unexpected of him? The idea is laughable!
Karsai is a product of our making and the machinations related to our invasion and occupation. He is a quisling, a puppet.
His rule, if you can call it that, extends no further than the limits of Kabul. He is not accepted as the legitimate head of Afghanistan by the overwhelming majority of the people in that country.
He IS corrupt, (certainly not unknown by Obama) while his brother, part of Karsai's inner ruling circle, is a known trafficker in the drug trade. Karsai's recent reelection was rifled with irregularities and vote fraud. He remains in office only as long as the U.S. presence remains. The absurdity is Obama wanting and expecting Karsai to be anything other than he is, corrupt to the core.
He is sure to be removed from office, overthrown in a coup, assassinated or executed or secretly hustled out of the country (once the U.S. departs) and any number of the multiple forces operating in the country will come forth and vie for power most probably in traditional Afghan fashion, in a violent takeover.
After the presidential "dressing down", Obama met with cheering troops saying, "Al Qaeda and their extremist allies are a threat to the people in Afghanistan and a threat to the people of America, but they're also a threat to people around the world."[1]
Apparently Mr. Obama didn't get the "memo" from his chief military advisor General Jim Jones (Ret) who said months ago that Afghanistan had less than 100 al Qaeda militants remaining in the country.
Was that not the primary justification for our invasion of Afghanistan in October, 2002; remove al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden from their asylum in the country and for perpetrating the attacks of 9/11?
But with the coming of Obama, the "goal line" has shifted, the war escalated and broadened,(not so clandestinely) into Pakistan, and making the Taliban (vanquished and overthrown in our invasion but now reconstituted, reenergized and determined to outlast us) our primary target (and one supposes because they, prior to 9/11 gave sanctuary and sustenance to Osama and al Qaeda).
The troops cheered Obama (as they do all presidents in their presence). Yet their mission can not be accomplished if defeating the indigenous Taliban and getting the Afghan people to side with us is that mission.
Only Afghans will be able to sort out their country's future. It can not be done with an American presence or any other foreign invader or occupier going all the way back to Alexander the Great, the British or the Soviets after them. It is why Afghanistan has been known as the "graveyard of empires".
It is only American hubris and arrogance that it alone believes can defy history's lessons.
[1] "In Afghan Trip, Obama Presses Karsai on Graft", by Alissa J. Rubin and Helene Cooper, "The New York Times", March 28, 2010.
