As Karl Eikenberry prepares to leave Afghanistan, he indirectly slammed Hamid Karzai, and in the process pointed out why we need to leave, unintentionally I think. Of course, Karzai was the Unocal (now part of Chevron) employee that Bush and the Republicans installed as their puppet President, and he would never have associated with them, or been accepted by them, were he not corrupt to the core. Karzai is as bad as, if not worse than, the Taliban.
The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, in unusually blunt and personal comments Sunday, responded sharply to President Hamid Karzai’s escalating denunciations of American and NATO forces and aid efforts in Afghanistan.
After an upbeat speech about Afghanistan’s future prospects to university students in the Western city of Herat, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry added remarks that he said were “spoken from my heart.” He complained bitterly about American forces being “compared to occupiers” and being “told that they are only here to advance their own interests,” suggesting such comments could lead the United States to give up on Afghanistan.
Although he did not mention Karzai by name, Eikenberry was referring almost verbatim to harsh criticisms the Afghan president voiced Saturday and has expressed on previous occasions. “I must tell you that I find occasional comments from some of your leaders hurtful and inappropriate,” Eikenberry said.
The ambassador’s remarks came as he prepares to leave Afghanistan at the end of a grueling two-year posting… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
The first problem is that, although US troops believed they were there to protect the Afghanis from Al Qaeda, Bush told them a Republican lie. They really were there as occupiers, part of a RepubliCorp scheme to wrest control of Caspian natural gas from Russia, by routing it through Afghanistan to Karachi. Under Obama, that is no longer the case, but such distinctions are lost on the population there. They believe we are still occupiers, especially with Karzai making the claim to cover his own abuse of power.
Obama’s position, albeit unspoken, is that he does not want to give Republicans the opportunity to say that he gave Afghanistan to the terrorists. Nevertheless, Bush and the Republicans lost that war before Obama took office. The lives of our troops and the budget-busting cost of that war are too high a price to pay for saving face. The time for withdrawal, as quickly as is logistically feasible, is now.
6 Responses to “Eikenberry Blasts Karzai”
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If the Taliban are hiding in the borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan – let’s rout them there. No need for the Afghanis to suffer anymore – there’s also supposed 100 Taliban in Afghanistan – find them, kill them and be done with that We’ve got 150K of troops over there and we can’t find 100 Taliban, screw that. Also, invade Pakistan’s borders whenever we like to get the Taliban out. Screw their sovereignty; they get $20B a year to help and they haven’t done jack shit. For $20B, for ten years, we should own that country; and we will invade it anytime we want to find the Taliban, since they aren’t holding up their end of the deal. Give me Hillary’s job and I’ll fix that shit.
Lisa, I’d say the Taliban is spread throughout the countryside. We control the cities only.
” Karzai was the Unocal (now part of Chevron) employee that Bush and the Republicans installed as their puppet President,”~~~~from story. How far up in management was Karzai? And wasn’t that the company Condeleezi Rice was CEO? The connections are amazing! 👿
Karzai was never part of the leadership. He was a technical expert, specializing in the construction of gas pipelines, installed to build one for Bush and the Republicans.
It’s a rousing game of connect the dots.
And there aren’t that many to connect.