Can the U.S. Win in a Karzai-Led Afghanistan?

Can the U.S. Win in a Karzai-Led Afghanistan?

By Aryn Baker / Kabul Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, and U.S. President Barack Obama after trilateral (ত্রিপক্ষিয়) talks at the White House .

The end of the election limbo (in a state of uncertainty) allows Karzai and his Western partners to move forward. In three weeks, he will announce his cabinet choices and begin work on important security, economic and governance issues that had been put on hold during the election. And that will also provide an opportunity for the Obama Administration to use the leverage offered by Afghanistan's security and economic dependency to press Karzai to do better. "If we can start pressuring him to start cracking down on high-profile criminals and drug traffickers to show that he actually cares about rule of law, then he starts gaining legitimacy," says Dempsey. "Afghanistan is still going to be a basket case five years from now, but at least the perception that the head leadership is trying to move the country in the right direction will give people faith."
Afghan faith in the future offered by Karzai's government is the key to the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. That faith will be more important than the strength of his electoral mandate in determining the fate of Karzai's presidency — and quite possibly that of Obama's too. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1934553,00.html#ixzz0WMD8fTSD