Afghan President Karzai Arrives in Washington
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s current visit to Washington highlights some very uncomfortable truths for both sides. Karzai is painfully aware that while his ability to stay in power rests entirely on the military, financial, and political support of the United States, he cannot appear to the Afghan people to be an American puppet – which is why he constantly appears to be biting the hand that feeds him. U.S. leaders have come the difficult conclusion that as weak and ineffective of a leader as Karzai appears to be, as disastrously poor of a job he’s done in governing his country and countering rampant corruption among his own officials, there is no real alternative to backing Karzai for the next four years. Expect both sides to be deeply disappointed with the other as, with the absence of effective indigenous governance fatally undermining the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy, the seemingly endless war drags on,” says Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl.
Jamie, who is in New York, served as an election observer in Afghanistan’s 2009 election. To arrange an interview, contact the Asia Society communications department at 212-327-9271 or [email protected].