-->38 °C FAQ Bookmark this page Sign In Register
skip to main content Home UAE World Business Opinion Sport Arts Life The Review Magazine Weekender Multimedia Blogs Comment Editorials Cartoon Letters Arabic news digest Your ViewOpinion
Today's paperRead the newspaper as it was printed
You make the newsSend us your stories and pictures
Your View e-polls e-paper Subscription Weather RSS Feeds e-poll document.write(''); content = document.getElementById("pollcontainer").innerHTML; myReg=/Sorry/; myAr=myReg.exec(content); if (myAr == "Sorry") { // document.getElementById("pollcontainer").style.height="0"; document.getElementById("pollcontainer").style.display="none"; } document.write(''); Afghan efforts reach a new level of disarray Last Updated: June 12. 2010 6:40PM UAE / June 12. 2010 2:40PM GMTDuring his presidential campaign, Barack Obama continually referred to Afghanistan as the “good war”. The intended message to the electorate was that in contrast to the “bad war” in Iraq, the stakes in Afghanistan were compelling: the cause had moral appeal, the strategic rationale was unquestionable, and one could easily distinguish between friend and foe. Two years later, this well-meaning fiction seems to have collapsed. The US strategy in Afghanistan is hobbled and the Afghan government is increasingly seen as an untrustworthy ally in the fight against the Taliban.
To be sure, the American strategy is not blameless. By setting July 2011 as the date for the withdrawal of combat troops, Mr Obama signalled to the Afghan people that he had no plans for a long-term presence there. Mr Obama also contributed to the Afghan president Hamid Karzai's problems in doing so. Mr Karzai now believes that America will not guarantee his survival and that one year will not be enough to reverse the tide against the Taliban.
This is probably why the Afghan president is hedging his bets and doing so more openly. Accused of nepotism and inefficiency, and lacking in legitimacy since his controversial re-election last year, he is uncharitably blaming his western allies for many of his country's ills while pursuing an erratic policy of rapprochement with the Taliban. When faced with evidence that the Taliban had mounted a deeply embarrassing attack on the site where he was meeting with 1,600 tribal elders two weeks ago, Mr Karzai dismissed news of the event as a fabrication and clashed with his interior minister and the intelligence chief. These two men were seen as reliable and effective, a rarity among the many unsavoury characters in Mr Karzai's cabinet. They quickly resigned, citing irreconcilable differences with the president. Their departures have left a gaping hole in the country's security structure.
document.write('');The insecurity caused by these recent events has been compounded by an Afghan police force and military that is perceived as incapable and corrupt. A recent report by the US defence department questioned the generous assessments of the effort to train and deploy the Afghan security forces. The gradual withdrawal of Nato forces rests, in theory, on the Afghan military's operational readiness, which is proving as elusive as Mr Karzai's statesmanship.
The US-led campaign in Kandahar, once heralded as a key element of the ambitious counter-insurgency push, has been delayed. There, the Taliban are proving more resilient than expected and the Afghan government itself has failed to keep its side of the bargain. When the US commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley McChrystal unveiled his counter-insurgency strategy, he spoke of a government-in-a-box waiting to be deployed to provide services quickly to the population and win their allegiance. But in Kandahar and in Helmand province there is still little governance to speak of. The three legs of US policy – counter-insurgency, the propping-up of allies and the building up of security institutions – appear to be in disarray. And the summer has just begun.
Afghan efforts reach a new level of disarray Last Updated: June 12. 2010 6:40PM UAE / June 12. 2010 2:40PM GMTDuring his presidential campaign, Barack Obama continually referred to Afghanistan as the “good war”. The intended message to the electorate was that in contrast to the “bad war” in Iraq, the stakes in Afghanistan were compelling: the cause had moral appeal, the strategic rationale was unquestionable, and one could easily distinguish between friend and foe. Two years later, this well-meaning fiction seems to have collapsed. The US strategy in Afghanistan is hobbled and the Afghan government is increasingly seen as an untrustworthy ally in the fight against the Taliban.
To be sure, the American strategy is not blameless. By setting July 2011 as the date for the withdrawal of combat troops, Mr Obama signalled to the Afghan people that he had no plans for a long-term presence there. Mr Obama also contributed to the Afghan president Hamid Karzai's problems in doing so. Mr Karzai now believes that America will not guarantee his survival and that one year will not be enough to reverse the tide against the Taliban.
This is probably why the Afghan president is hedging his bets and doing so more openly. Accused of nepotism and inefficiency, and lacking in legitimacy since his controversial re-election last year, he is uncharitably blaming his western allies for many of his country's ills while pursuing an erratic policy of rapprochement with the Taliban. When faced with evidence that the Taliban had mounted a deeply embarrassing attack on the site where he was meeting with 1,600 tribal elders two weeks ago, Mr Karzai dismissed news of the event as a fabrication and clashed with his interior minister and the intelligence chief. These two men were seen as reliable and effective, a rarity among the many unsavoury characters in Mr Karzai's cabinet. They quickly resigned, citing irreconcilable differences with the president. Their departures have left a gaping hole in the country's security structure.
document.write('');The insecurity caused by these recent events has been compounded by an Afghan police force and military that is perceived as incapable and corrupt. A recent report by the US defence department questioned the generous assessments of the effort to train and deploy the Afghan security forces. The gradual withdrawal of Nato forces rests, in theory, on the Afghan military's operational readiness, which is proving as elusive as Mr Karzai's statesmanship.
The US-led campaign in Kandahar, once heralded as a key element of the ambitious counter-insurgency push, has been delayed. There, the Taliban are proving more resilient than expected and the Afghan government itself has failed to keep its side of the bargain. When the US commander in Afghanistan Gen Stanley McChrystal unveiled his counter-insurgency strategy, he spoke of a government-in-a-box waiting to be deployed to provide services quickly to the population and win their allegiance. But in Kandahar and in Helmand province there is still little governance to speak of. The three legs of US policy – counter-insurgency, the propping-up of allies and the building up of security institutions – appear to be in disarray. And the summer has just begun.
Send to friend Print var addthis_pub="noahkhan"; var addthis_brand = "The National"; var addthis_logo = "http://www.thenational.ae/images/the_national_logo.gif"; var addthis_logo_color = "3261A5"; Bookmark & Share function storeCaret(textEl) { if (textEl.createTextRange) textEl.caretPos = document.selection.createRange().duplicate(); } if ((document.all) && (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Opera')== -1)) { IE = true; } else { IE = false; } function doSubmitMessage(aFormId,aUrl){ aForumForm = aFormId; aCreateUrl = aUrl+"&omniture=0"; aForumMessageUrl = ''; aAjaxDiv = document.getElementById("cpost"); processForum(aAjaxDiv); }Have your say
Please log in to post a comment try { if (document.getElementById("_userEmail").innerHTML = '') { document.newmessageform.Body.disabled=true; document.newmessageform.post.disabled = true; } } catch(e) { document.newmessageform.Body.disabled = true; document.newmessageform.post.disabled = true; } Other Opinion stories Disappointment, anger over World Cup broadcast For food safety, greater vigilance The Gulf's draw Afghan efforts reach a new level of disarray The bonds between the GCC and EU grow deeper Emiratis listened to Bill Gates – can they emulate him? document.write(''); Top stories No plans to extradite passport fraud suspect: police chief Al Jazeera blames hackers for World Cup interruption Memories of Greater Tunb invasion Kyrgyzstan leader seeks Russian aid HSBC unhappy after downgrade Al Ain strives for UN heritage list Green gives USA a helping hand Your View Have you seen an improvement in restaurants during the past year?Were you inconvienced by the World Cup blackout?It's getting warmer. What are your plans for the summer?What type of non-government organisations would benefit most from Emirati youth involvement?What buildings, other than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, could Abu Dhabi emulate? Most popular stories Most read Most e-mailed Al Jazeera blames hackers for World Cup interruption Memories of Greater Tunb invasion HSBC unhappy after downgrade Emiratis listened to Bill Gates – can they emulate him? Two blazes near Abu Dhabi mall Arrest made in slaying of Hamas leader at Dubai hotel Green gives USA a helping hand Experts map Abu Dhabi quake risk Al Ain strives for UN heritage list Blue City rescue seen as boost for Oman Hospital chief: staff crisis 'keeps me up at night' UAEU chiefs to discuss the future of teachers Abu Dhabi makes Pisa sit up straight Emiratis 'must be steered into private sector' Professor grows bricks from bacteria Dental X-rays 'raise cancer risk' Firm ordered to pay sacked Emirati worker Dh400,000 Fears for marina's whale shark Former chief of TIBC tells why he fled from Bahrain New solar power plant for Abu Dhabi var countries=new ddtabcontent("countrytabs") countries.setpersist(true) countries.setselectedClassTarget("link") //"link" or "linkparent" countries.init() Products & Services Your View e-polls e-Paper RSS Feeds Home UAE World Business Sport About us Contact us Terms & Conditions FAQ Site map© Copyright of Abu Dhabi Media Company PJSC.
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-4452332-2"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); //-1?'https:':'http:') +unescape('//me.effectivemeasure.net/em.js%22%3E%3C/script%3E')); //]]> var pvar = { cid: "mena-admedia", content: "0", sample_size: 10, server: "secure-uk" }; var feat = { surveys_enabled: 1 }; var trac = nol_t(pvar, feat); var _rsND = trac.getSchemeHost(); var _rsCI = "mena-admedia"; trac.record().post().do_sample(); var countries=new ddtabcontent("countrytabs") countries.setpersist(true) countries.setselectedClassTarget("link") //"link" or "linkparent" countries.init() Products & Services Your View e-polls e-Paper RSS Feeds Home UAE World Business Sport About us Contact us Terms & Conditions FAQ Site map© Copyright of Abu Dhabi Media Company PJSC.
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-4452332-2"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); //-1?'https:':'http:') +unescape('//me.effectivemeasure.net/em.js%22%3E%3C/script%3E')); //]]> var pvar = { cid: "mena-admedia", content: "0", sample_size: 10, server: "secure-uk" }; var feat = { surveys_enabled: 1 }; var trac = nol_t(pvar, feat); var _rsND = trac.getSchemeHost(); var _rsCI = "mena-admedia"; trac.record().post().do_sample(); var doLoad = true; if (doLoad) { updatePollMini(); } s.Account="saxotechthenational" s.cookieDomainPeriods="2" s.pageName="Opinion,Afghan efforts reach a new level of disarray:20100613:706129954" s.server="S260608AT1VW925" s.channel="Opinion" /* Traffic Variables */ s.prop1="Story" /* E-commerce Variables */ s.events="event3" s.products="Poll;One month on have you bought a gold ingot from Emirates Palace ATM?/One month on have you bought a gold ingot from Emirates Palace ATM?" /* Hierarchy Variables */ s.hier1="Opinion,Afghan efforts reach a new level of disarray:20100613:706129954" /************* DO NOT ALTER ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ! **************/ var s_code=s.t(); if(s_code)document.write(s_code)Read Full Article »