With Friends Like This: Karzai Again Proclaims that He Wishes He Was With The Taliban Instead of the United States

We have another encouraging statement from our ally, Afghan President Hamid Karzai who told Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and other top Western officials in Kabul that one of his greatest enemies is the United States and that he wished he had gone with the Taliban when he had a chance. Previously, if you recall, Karzai stated that he wanted to actually join the Taliban in fighting the United States, so this is just a reminder.

So, just to keep track, our loss of life and limb in Afghanistan is sharply increasing. We have burned through hundreds of billions of dollars in this war as our cities and states are cutting back on public education, parks, and basic services. Yet, we continue to sacrifice our soldiers and treasure in a country where the President is a corrupt lunatic who dreams of joining the Taliban and killing U.S. troops. Of course, he will first have to find one. Recently it was disclosed that our geniuses in the CiA and military have been negotiating with a perfect fraud — a man who falsely claimed to be “Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour,” one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement. In addition to giving him a fortune, he was flown to meet with Karzai and our top commanders. The U.S. now says that he was just a guy trying to make some cash.

In his latest diatribe, Karzai said his three “main enemies” – the Taliban, the United States and the international community. Then added, “If I had to choose sides today, I’d choose the Taliban.”

The problem is that many are saying that the Taliban are winning — in part because of Karzai’s corrupt and inept government. Why should they want Karzai? They would much prefer that we carry him. He has proven one of their greatest assets.

In the meantime, we continue to substitute ideological allies with openly corrupt officials — corrupted by the CIA itself.

Afghanistan has become an example of “path dependence” in economic theory — we have invested so much on this gambit that we cannot get ourselves to consider changing course — or at least no politician is willing to take responsibility for such a decision. The result is that we our losses mount as a lunatic leader fantasizes of joining the enemy. The only good thing is that we must be confusing the hell out of our allies, but I know I am confused.

By the way, our latest published loss was Lance Cpl. Michael Geary, 20, of New Hampshire. Geary had wanted to be a marine since he was 14. He fought the Taliban while Karzai routinely call him the enemy and expresses his desire to join the men who killed him. While Karzai debates what side he is on, Geary’s mother has to deal with the loss of this wonderful son as well as losing her job shortly before Thanksgiving and the recent death of her mother from a long battle against lung cancer. I can only imagine what she is thinking when reading these statements from Karzai. I cannot imagine a more tragic series of events for this poor lady. Obviously, Michael did not die for the likes of Karzai and his lack of appreciation does not reflect the sympathy of all Americans for her and her family. Reading about Michael was very hard – he was clearly a very special person who was a credit to both his family and his country.

Source: Washington Post

Jonathan Turley