Karzai’s Futile Campaign

Published in Frankfurter Rundschau
(Germany) on 26 March 2009
by Stefan Scholl (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Ron Argentati. Edited by Katy Burtner.
Control of Afghanistan has been considered the key to power in Asia for centuries. The British and Russian empires fought for its barren cliffs, as did the Soviet army and the CIA. For the sake of that key, an entire British expeditionary force was totally wiped out as were 16,000 Soviet soldiers, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians. Compared to that, losses suffered by todays “peacekeepers” have been minimal, but they persist in the vain search for the key to power and stability, at least for Afghanistan itself.

Now Washington has begun to openly question the wisdom of keeping its troops there for the long term. The allies have been trying to avoid increasing their presence for a long time. Hamid Karzai, Afghan President by the grace of the United States, is considered a figurehead of little significance. Even his attempts to align himself with Moscow, becoming increasingly blatant by the day, have met with little success. As much as the Kremlin enjoys watching America fail, Afghanistan makes even the Russians shudder.

Since the withdrawal of the broken Soviet army in 1989 at the latest, Afghanistan has been a synonym in Russia for permanent and horrible chaos: unbeatable holy warriors, the medieval squalor of a permanent economic catastrophe, unmanned drone attacks that mangle little children, rival warlords selling the firepower of their private armies along with their heroin and a government apparatus falling apart from corruption.

Of course, nobody in Russia admits this openly. But they’re all delighted that they have nothing more to do with the question of who’s winning in Afghanistan.


Karsai wirbt vergeblich
VON STEFAN SCHOLL
26 March 2009


Die Herrschaft über Afghanistan galt für ganze weltpolitische Epochen als Schlüssel zur Macht in Asien. Um seine kargen Felsen kämpften das britische und das russische Imperium, die Sowjetarmee und die CIA. Um dieses Schlüssel willens wurde ein komplettes englisches Expeditionskorps abgeschlachtet, ebenso wie 16 000 Sowjetarmisten. Und hunderttausende afghanische Zivilisten. Die Verluste der heutigen Befrieder sind dagegen gering. Aber auch sie suchen vergeblich nach dem Schlüssel zur Macht und Stabilität wenigstens für Afghanistan selbst.

Jetzt denkt Washington laut darüber, wie sinnvoll seine Militärpräsenz auf Dauer ist. Die Verbündeten drücken sich seit langem, ihre Kontingente aufzustocken. Hamit Karsai, der Präsident von Amerikas Gnaden, gilt als Muster ohne Wert. Auch seine immer offensichtlicheren Versuche, mit Moskau ins Geschäft zu kommen, versprechen kaum Erfolg. So sehr sich der Kreml über jeden Fehlschlag der USA freut, vor Afghanistan grault es auch den Russen.

Spätestens seit dem Abzug der gescheiterten Sowjetarmee 1989 ist Afghanistan den Russen Synonym für permanentes, grausames Chaos. Nicht klein zu kriegende Gotteskrieger, das mittelalterliche Elend einer wirtschaftlichen Dauerkatastrophe, Antiterrorbomben, die Kinder zerfetzen, rivalisierende Warlords, die außer Heroin auch die Feuerkraft ihrer Privatarmeen verkaufen, und ein vor Korruption berstender Staatsapparat.

Offiziell gibt es in Russland zwar niemand zu. Aber alle im Land sind heilfroh, dass sie mit der Machtfrage in Afghanistan nichts mehr zu tun haben.
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