Does Karzai's Corruption Offer Obama an Out?

(Nov. 12) -- He was once, if too briefly, a hero. But now Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been cast in the role of spoiler as President Barack Obama mulls over a list of unpalatable options for Afghanistan -- none of which, according to The New York Times, he likes as is.

As Obama nears a decision, perhaps as early as Thanksgiving, he might have felt the pressure ease thanks to Karl W. Eikenberry, U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and a former commander of U.S. forces there. Both the Times and The Washington Post reported that in the last week, Eikenberry has sent back to Washington diplomatic dispatches that expressed deep doubts that Karzai can curtail the spiral of corruption and ineptitude that has helped power the Taliban's resurgence since 2006.

Since Gen. Stanley McChrystal submitted his report to the secretary of defense on Aug. 30 calling for a radically new approach in Afghanistan -- including as many as 40,000 additional troops -- Obama has held eight brainstorming sessions with top military and foreign policy aides to lay out a course of action for an eight-year war that has reached an impasse.

Several weeks ago, reports out of the White House suggested that the president was looking favorably on McChrystal's argument that a significant surge in troops was necessary to push back the Taliban, "elevate the importance of governance" and "signal unwavering commitment" to the Afghan people. This week the tone is far more skeptical, and Karzai is the unnamed villain. "After years of substantial investments by the American people," said a White House statement issued Wednesday, "governance in Afghanistan must improve in a reasonable period of time."

Karzai's flaws are plain now. But it's worth remembering that the judgment was almost universal among the international community that he was the right choice to lead the country after the Taliban was driven out of Kabul. "At the time, he was the best man standing," say Nick Mills, who wrote a biography of Karzai based on months of interviews in 2005.

When Karzai rode into Afghanistan on the back of a motorbike from Pakistani exile on Oct. 7, 2001, he already had the preliminary backing of U.S. and British authorities. Once he began marshaling resistance to the Taliban among the key Pashtun tribes under the Taliban's thrall, Washington pegged him as the only man who could gain the fealty of leaders across the spectrum of Afghanistan's ethnic groups. It didn't hurt, perhaps, that his penchant for lush cloaks and dashing hats gave him a exotic panache abroad.

That appeal has more than faded since. If the massive vote fraud to his favor in the August presidential elections wasn't enough, Karzai's cavalier stance on corruption ever since then surely has been. Citing Afghan officials, the Times of London reported earlier this month that American officials have given Karzai six months to stem corruption and isolate himself from the likes of his brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who denies persistent charges that he is both a key player in the burgeoning drug trade in his native province of Kandahar and a regular recipient of CIA funds. President Karzai has made no moves to distance himself from his brother or other controversial aides, claiming that he's seen no solid evidence of their involvement in the opium business.

By now Karzai realizes he's dealing with a different crew. The effort in Afghanistan languished while George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair concentrated on Iraq, but it's the main theater for Obama and current British leader Gordon Brown, and the spotlight is brighter. "Karzai's incompetence was obvious for years, but no one paid attention to it," says Mills, who teaches journalism at Boston University. "The poppy crop has been allowed to grow like topsy. The West created Karzai, and now we're not happy with him. But all those years the West wasn't working with him, and now he's an angry man."

It is possible that the leaks of Eikenberry's cables amount to a deliberate shot across Karzai's bow to encourage him to buckle down. But that won't make a nearly impossible task any easier for Karzai -- even if he wanted to embrace it.