Obama’s War…of Words

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Only 1.5 kilometers from the Pakistani border, coalition air units evacuated wounded solders from inside of Afghanistan. Photo by Jonathan Saruk/Sipa Press/Newscom

 

During the last several days, our allies in the war President Obama says we must fight—the one against the Taliban in Afghanistan and the spillover into Pakistan—stood up to be counted.

First, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari declared during a visit to Peshawar, a city practically under siege by the Taliban:
“We will tell them [the Obama administration] fighting was no solution to the imbroglio.”

Then, Afghani President Hamid Karzai told the annual Munich Security Conference that “our demands are clear: searching of Afghans' houses, their detentions and civilian casualties should be stopped.” And, seemingly responding directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he declared, “yes, we produce poppies. Yes, we are insecure…Are we a ‘narco state?’ No, we are not.”

Apparently, neither of them got the memo…

The problem is that both Zardari and Karzai both blame aggressive U.S. military tactics for their sliding domestic popularity. Zardari is worried that a dramatically enlarged U.S. military presence in Afghanistan will push more of the war across the border into Pakistan. Karzai is worried that increased fighting will inevitably kill more civilians—which won’t help him win re-election later this year.

Based on polling (PDF) released yesterday, Karzai’s effort to distance himself from the U.S. is understandable. A majority of Afghans now have an unfavorable view of the United States. Forty-four percent want fewer, not more, U.S. troops in their country. Eighty percent say that air strikes are unacceptable. More Afghans think the U.S. is a bigger cause of violence than the Taliban (36 percent vs. 27 percent).

And, perhaps most alarmingly, one-quarter of Afghans support attacks on U.S. and NATO forces—rising to 45 percent in the parts of the country where the air strikes and fighting are most intense.

For his part, President Obama weighed in last night at his press conference when he said that the Afghan leadership “seems very detached” from what is going on in the country. That may be “tough love,” but it increasingly sounds like he and his national security team are on a different page than our increasingly reluctant allies.

The Russians engineered some tough love of their own recently by persuading Kyrgyzstan (with a $2 billion aid package) to close a U.S. air base that is a critical part of the supply chain supporting troops in Afghanistan. Coming on top of the closure of another American base in Uzbekistan, either the Russians are stockpiling chips for an eventual negotiation over Central Asia or they actually believe it makes sense to squeeze the U.S. in Afghanistan.

In the words of Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian permanent representative, “the Americans’ failure in Afghanistan is creating a bigger threat to neighboring countries. Military actions, which are being aimed against civilians, helped those who were not going to take sides with the Taliban movement and other extremists.”