On Saturday, 14th of February, Richard Holbrooke, President Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan visited Kabul to meet with President Hamid Karzai. Besides the many issues discussed during this visit with the Afghan officials and intellectuals, relations between Washington and the Karzai administration was a hot topic in both the Afghan and the international media. The relation between Kabul and Washington has not been as good as it used to be under the Bush administration. The new administration in Washington has made clear statements about the inefficiency and corruption of the government in Afghanistan, which analysts see as sign of change in Karzai- Washington relations. On several occasions, President Karzai has also made strong statements against the US on issues such as the lack of coordination of coalition forces with his government, and civilian causalities caused during international forces’ attacks on the insurgents. However, can Holbrooke’s visit help clear up issues between Karzai and Obama’s administration? Did the parties come to a mutual understanding?
Although there has not been any public statement made by Karzi or Holbrooke, it seems that the parties have come to some sort of understanding on some conflictive issues. BBC Persian service reported on Sunday, 15th of February that Holbrooke has assured President Karzai of Washington’s support to his administration, but it has not been clear whether Washington will support him being a candidate at the upcoming presidential election or not[1]. It has been also reported that Holbrooke had agreed with President Karzai that the US should do its best to avoid civilian casualties.
Around the time of Holbrooke’s visit to Afghanistan, a joint press release by Afghan Defense Minister and the US military and NATO commander in Afghanistan, David McKiernan, stated that in order to avoid further civilian causalities, there will be closer coordination between the international forces and the Afghan army[2]. It was also said in the press release that the Afghan army will take greater part in the military in-house-searches for insurgents in the southern villages, which in past, brought up issues of cultural sensitivities as these searches were primarily conducted by the international forces..
Reports also state that Afghan Foreign Minister, Dr. Rangin Spanta will visit Washington to take part in the US-Afghan policy review[3]. President Karzai said that he was happy that Washington has accepted his proposal to allow the Afghans take part in the policy assessment.
With these agreements reached between the US and the Karzai government, it seems that the US has successfully politically disarmed Karzai in terms of the political rhetoric he has been using against the Obama administration’s criticisms of the Karzai government. Karzai has been using civilian causalities and the lack of coordination of the international forces as a political rhetoric against Washington’s criticisms of his government being corrupt and ineffective. Now that the US has agreed on coordination with the Afghan forces in military operations in order to avoid civilian causalities, Karzai seems to have lost the grounds to stand against the US criticisms.
An important point of contention between Obama and Karzai’s administration has been the issue of corruption. This along with criticisms of weak governance under Karzai’s administration in Afghanistan, had dominated the relation between US and Afghanistan under the Obama administration. However, it is yet unclear whether Holbrooke’s visit has led to some sort of understanding between the US and Karzai’s administration in this regard.
The Afghan government has not been able to tackle widespread corruption in the government institutions. This has not only affected the government’s image in the eyes of ordinary Afghans, but has also tarnished its image among the international community, whom the Afghans see as the back bone of the Karzai government in terms of economic and political assistance it provides the present administration. Therefore, it is understandable that many policy makers in US have reconsidered their level of support to the country. However, the poor performance of the Karzai administration should not be a reason for the US to stop further and greater efforts to improve things in the Afghan government. The weakness of the Karzai government is not sufficient reason for its isolation by the international community, but efforts should be made to work towards improving governance in Afghanistan by further engaging with the Afghan government. Afghans as a nation, would expect from the main international players involved in Afghanistan, to empower good governance as a strategy to win the war on terror.
It is yet to be seen what policies would be adopted towards Afghanistan based on Holbrooke’s presentation of his findings during his visit to Afghanistan. However, regardless of the discussion of support for Karzai, it is extremely important for the US and the international society to focus on helping the Afghans with good governance, democratization and public service development. The success in the War against Terrorism is closely linked with winning of the hearts and minds of the ordinary Afghans through empowering governance, security and social service institutions to improve the quality of their lives. Corruption and weak governance is as serious a threat to the ongoing international efforts in Afghanistan as is the insurgency. The issue of good governance should be brought back into focus, and the Obama administration should keep emphasizing on good governance as a central policy issue towards Afghanistan.
[1] Barack Obama az dawlat Karzai Hemayat Mykonad ( Barack Obama supports Karzai’s administration) BBC Persian , February 15, 2009. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/2009/02/090215_a-karzai-holbrook-kabul.shtml >
[2] Afghan, U.S. military agree on further coordination to avoid civilian casualties Xinhua (KABUL), February 14, 2009
[3] Afghanistan joins US 'war on terror' review , AFP ( Kabul) February 15, 2009
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