The West Was Ill-Used By Karzai

Progress in Afghanistan is dependent mainly on the presence of troops and civilian aid workers from the West, and hardly on the country’s president, who is ridiculed with the charge that his power ends at the gate to his palace. It was a mistake to stick with Hamid Karzai for so long.

Perhaps it is not too late. It was probably pressure from the United States that has made possible what had previously been considered unlikely: a run-off election. This would put an end to the days when current President Hamid Karzai could be assured that he would remain in office because of foreign support. That would be a good thing. The West has already let this personable gentleman wearing the elegant robes and the picturesque Karakum hat to impress and misuse them for far too long.

When the Afghan tribal leader was invited to a 2001 conference in Bonn to discuss possible new directions for his country, the talk was all about this “miracle from Petersberg.”* Karzai looked so much like the civilized head of a reconciliation committee that there was serious hope he might be just the man to give his tortured and ravaged country new perspectives.

Much has taken place in Afghanistan since then to create stability, but that’s mainly thanks to troops and civilian aid workers from the West; it’s hardly due to the country’s president, who is ridiculed as a ruler whose power ends at his palace gates.

Since there appeared to be no one else waiting in the wings, the West stuck with him–a mistake the West is often prone to making. Because the West didn’t want to admit that mistake, Karzai has caused further instability in the region. That’s why it’s just as well that a new election will be forced (albeit none too gently) on him.

To allow Karzai to continue to rule despite all the apparent election fraud would be a signal that the West has no hope whatsoever that Afghanistan could ever stand independently. In the long run, it never pays to support a compliant figurehead politically and financially.

A runoff election would at least lend a bit of change to the scene, just the thing to bring in the fresh air necessary for a stable political structure.

*Translator’s Note: The Petersberg is a reference to the German government’s guest hotel for official visitors to Bonn. This is where the Afghanistan Conference was held in November and December 2001.