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When the US senator John Kerry stood side by side with Hamid Karzai after coaxing and cajoling the Afghan president into a presidential election run-off, the US media hailed it as a sign of progress. In fact, it served notice that the Obama administration's Afghanistan strategy is a shambles. Fearing a quagmire, Mr Obama has hesitated on a request by his handpicked commander, Gen Stanley McChrystal, to send 40,000 extra troops simply to hold the line against the Taliban. Officials began to argue that the US could not send reinforcements until the Afghan election debacle was resolved. The counterinsurgency strategy required a legitimate Afghan government, the argument ran, and Mr Karzai had won a first-round victory only because of more than a million fraudulent ballots.

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