Monday, November 9, 2009

War Notes: November 9, 2009

Richard Holbrooke On The Way Out?
Falling short of his life-long goal of becoming the U.S Secretary of State, special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke seems to have worn out his welcome. Holbrooke was criticized for his constant absence from Afghanistan in recent months, most notably when Senator Kerry had to be sent in to convince Hamid Karzai to participate in the run-off election, which, of course, did not happen. Holbrooke apparently has a very strained relationship with President Karzai, and their last conversation together ended in a shouting match. Insofar as Holbrooke's envoy position seems to have been a consolation prize, it will probably fade to black once Holbrooke resigns.

Name That Warlord!
Investigative reporter Gareth Porter sheds some light on who exactly the Obama and Brown administrations are referring to when they demand that President Karzai root out corruption. General McChrystal and others have specifically urged Karzai to crack down on his brother, drug-lord Ahmed Wali Karzai, former defence minister Muhammad Qasim Fahim and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. The odds of him cracking down on his own brother, especially when he's on the CIA payroll, is close to zero. The article also describes the disappointment of U.S officials over the "Compact on Afghanistan", a series of benchmarks for progress on human rights, anti-corruption measures and the rule of law that Karzai agreed to in 2006. Apparently Karzai has not only failed on most of his pledges, but his government is now achieving sub-2006 levels for many of these measurements.

Can Someone Define Impartiality?
In something of a bizarre rebuttal to demands from U.N envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, that the Karzai administration crack down on corruption, Afghanistan's Foreign Minister declared that Eide "exceeded his authority as a representative of an impartial international organization." Apparently, the Afghan government does not believe that an impartial organization has the right to critisize, because doing so would violate its impartiality. All of this is particularly ironic given the accusations that have been levied against Eide for weeks of his partiality for Hamid Karzai during the election process.

Not So Fast- Brits Not Leaving Any Time Soon
Despite bold words from Prime Minister Gordon Brown in recent weeks, including a warning that President Karzai will "forfeit the right to international support" if he doesn't crack down on corruption, his own Ministry of Defence isn't getting ready for withdrawal any time soon. An internal document revealed an "assumption of a rolling three-year military commitment to Afghanistan." Interestingly, the document describes the need for military success in order to "secure the reputation and long-term future of the armed forces." At least they have revealed the obvious, that at this point the war in Afghanistan is being conducted largely as a matter of pride and saving face rather than for strategically sound reasons.

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