The corrupt bastard that runs Afghanistan is getting quite a bit of competition. From Ann Marlowe @
The Daily Beast:
Afghanistan’s democratic opposition—a loosely affiliated but increasingly unified group of former Northern alliance fighters and politicians, Western-educated technocrats, businesspeople and military men—is facing a stalemate in what looks more and more like the Afghan endgame.
Last week, I met with three of the key players: Ahmad Wali Masoud, the former Afghan Ambassador to Britain, and one of the six brothers of the slain Afghan legend Ahmad Shah Massoud; last year’s presidential challenger Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, and deposed internal security chief Amrullah Saleh.
Since then, there have been several significant events in Kabul—not only did we see the unraveling of the Kabul Bank but it was also “Martyr’s Week,” commemorating the dead among the Afghan armed forces, as well as the end to Ramadan.
And events are moving so quickly here—think of the dissolving dreamscapes of Inception—that while Masoud, Abdullah and Saleh were all maintaining some distance on August 31, four days later, I was told, Saleh pledged his loyalty to Abdullah, and the following day, the three made a joint appearance at Kabul Education University.
At a time when the relationship between Karzai and the U.S. administration appears to have strained to a near-breaking point, and words such as “revolution” are suddenly cropping up in conversation, we should pay attention.
Nothing would make me happier than to see Karzai drummed out of office..and then run out of town on a rail or jailed for his crimes against his own people. The bastard and his cabinet are so corrupt it's obvious and pathetic..and it makes us look like fools since we support his regime and refuse to foster and support opposition parties that really want democracy in Afghanistan. Again from Marlowe's writeup:
While the men are very different—Masoud is genial and full of smiles, Abdullah has gravitas, and Saleh is all coruscating brilliance—the three spoke with surprising unanimity about the situation as they saw it, placing the lion’s share of blame for the deteriorating situation on the Americans and their focus on empowering one man, Hamid Karzai, rather than creating a sustainable, robust political system.
“They should have supported the political process and, if that process is legitimate, then the product of that process will be legitimate,” said Dr. Abdullah.
Or as Masoud put it: “The Americans imposed Karzai on Afghanistan, they know best how to change it.”
“Why did they pump billions of dollars into this country through one man, but do not promote political parties?” asked Masoud. “If they’d done that, by now we would have political parties to deal with, not one man.”
Bush knew what he was doing by putting Karzai in power, and I would hazard a guess that Obama is keenly aware of what a bag of batshit Karzai and his government are...so why support them? What is the upside of this fuckery for America and her money and soldiers?
