Dexter Filkins has an interesting piece in today's NYT about Karzai's decreasing popularity among (1) Afghans and (2) the Obama administration. It sounds as though the US is losing patience with the pace of progress, although there's also a complaint that Karzai has not cracked down hard enough on government corruption and 'narco-politics.'One anecdote says that, at a meeting last year, Biden got so ticked at Karzai that he threw down his napkin, stood up, and announced "This dinner is over!"
The outgoing US ambassador, William Wood, is one of Karzai's last remaining strong supporters. Obama's new ambassador, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, used to lead US forces in the country.
Two achievements that Karzai highlights are (1) increased press freedom and (2) more widespread education, particularly for girls.
44. Have there been any recent assassination attempts on Karzai? I remember thinking when he was first elected that he'd be lucky to survive for a year ... is his physical survival attributable to amazing security or an actual fairly high level of approval from Afghans?
45. How many states/provinces are there in Afghanistan? Is their allocation of state/national power more or less sorted-out than Iraq's at the moment?
46. Are there any/many women in the Afghan legislature?
47. What efforts is Karzai making to reduce opium production in Afghanistan? Does he just turn a blind eye to it, or is he making proactive efforts to fight the drug trade?
48. I think I have read that 70-80% of world opium production is in Afghanistan... is it really that high? What is the production/distribution path from Afghanistan to the rest of the world?
Richard Reeves, writing at Real Clear Politics, has an extremely pessimistic piece about the US's chances of actually "succeeding" in Afghanistan. Reeves advises Obama to decide sooner, rather than later, to abandon the US military effort there ("...Which brings me to President Obama's warnings and pledges about winning in Afghanistan. He had to sound tough about something after he courageously and correctly opposed our invasion of Iraq. That's how American politics works. And American presidents, the good ones, change their focus and strategies as times and events redirect them. Now he is running the government, and he should break those promises, the sooner the better, before more of our men -- and the men of our NATO allies -- are left on Afghanistan's plains.")
