Guess Who Opposes the War?

The list of people who do not support the war in Afghanistan just got bigger.

Well, this is fun. The Guardian is reporting that someone finally has given up on the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

President Hamid Karzai has lost faith in the US strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly looking to Pakistan to end the insurgency, according to those close to Afghanistan’s former head of intelligence services.

Amrullah Saleh, who resigned last weekend, believes the president lost confidence some time ago in the ability of Nato forces to defeat the Taliban.

Karzai has lost faith in the nation that has sacrificed so many lives, and wasted so much money and time protecting him. But it’s not exactly a surprise. As McClatchy reported, when Saleh and Interior Minister Hanif Atmar were pushed aside, last week:

Saleh and Atmar were both regarded by many Western officials as strong allies in the push to transform the Afghan government into a respected political force that won’t have to rely on international forces of more than 100,000 troops to prevent the Taliban from again seizing power.

Their removal could weaken security ties between Karzai’s cabinet and the international community, said Thomas Ruttig, a co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent international research organization.

"The sacking of Saleh is a blow for the U.S., which had put a lot of resources into the (Afghan intelligence agency) and apparently had good intelligence cooperation with (it)," Ruttig said.

Karzai is said to be turning to Pakistan and softening his tone against the Taliban. He is said to be not leading the counterinsurgency, even though his leadership was supposed to be a key facet of the latest U.S. escalation strategy. None of this should be a surprise. It’s just the latest examples of Karzai showing no respect for the U.S., and the administration that continues to coddle him… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

I used to support Obama’s policy to continue this war, until I realized that Bush and the GOP had botched it beyond repair.  They installed a corrupt puppet from Unocal, who now cannot be controlled.  The Karzai government has no chance at gaining popular support, without which the war cannot be won.