From the WaPo:
The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai’s government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban’s rise, senior U.S. officials said.
From Spencer Ackerman at the Washington Independent:
It was a tense meeting this morning at the White House, as Ambassador Karl Eikenberry addressed the National Security Council by teleconference from Kabul just hours after the media got hold of his dissent on the crucial question of sending more troops to Afghanistan. “He is very unpopular here,” said a National Security Council staffer who described the meeting.
No one was happy to read in The Washington Post that Eikenberry, who commanded the war himself from 2005 to 2007, thinks that the Karzai government needs to demonstrate its commitment to anti-corruption measures before the administration can responsibly authorize another troop increase. The prevailing theory is that “he leaked his own cables” because “he has a beef with McChrystal,” the staffer said. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Eikenberry’s successor as NATO commander in Afghanistan, has requested an increase in troops to support a counterinsurgency strategy with a substantial counterterrorism component…
Despite the dissatisfaction with Eikenberry’s apparent leak, according to the staffer, Obama “demanded” an exit strategy for the war “after Eikenberry’s cables.”
From Abu Muqawama:
It’s now common knowledge that Karl Eikenberry — the U.S. ambassador — thinks you, Hamid Karzai, lead a collection of corrupt and ineffective goons unworthy of further U.S. investment! Whoever leaked these classified cables has cut the knees out from underneath the most important U.S. representative in Kabul!
All of this is to say that Karl Eikenberry — whatever you think of the man — got royally screwed by some short-sighted jerks in the 202 area code. The cables had already been deliberated upon by the president and his advisors, but that wasn’t enough, so some idiots decided to also make the cables public knowledge. Now whatever U.S. policy goes forward — counterinsurgency, counter-terror, withdrawal, rape and pillage, whatever — is going to suffer for the soured relationship between our man in Kabul and the government of Afghanistan.
We have seen the enemy, and it is us.
From the comments on whether Eikenberry leaked the cables:
This guy did his rounds and saw that if there is to be any chance that what he sees a crucial policy change could still get made, he had to leak this view. Notice: he hasn’t resigned from anything or quit five months into a yearlong assignment. Perhaps he has speeded his departure, but he has given good notice of the reason. If these are his views, then plainly he has no business staying on as Ambassador to Afghanistan while Stanley McChrystal is attempting a counterinsurgency in the country…
Is it such a bad thing if Karzai thinks that an influential individual who has the President’s ear doesn’t have a lot of faith in the Karzai government’s commitment to stamping out corruption or extending security and services to the Afghan populace?
From Helene Cooper at the NYT, yesterday:
As Mr. Obama nears the end of his review of American strategy in Afghanistan, the issue of how he will prod, cajole or bully Mr. Karzai into taking action on matters he has avoided for the past five years has been catapulted to the center of the discussion.
Administration officials and America’s European allies say that rampant corruption and the illegal drug trade in Afghanistan have fueled the resurgence of the Taliban, and that unless Mr. Karzai moves forcefully to tackle those issues, no amount of additional American troops will be able to turn the country around.
Yet many of Mr. Obama’s advisers said they had seen no evidence that Mr. Karzai would follow through on promises to crack down on corruption or the drug trade. Mr. Obama, who met with his advisers again on Wednesday, is said to be particularly skeptical of Mr. Karzai’s resolve.
Whatever you may think of the Obama admin’s domestic practices, it must be recognized that his Foreign Policy Team is extremely sophisticated. We have seen before that in advance of trips abroad, ambassadors, as well as Clinton and Biden, often visit ahead of time, preparing conditions in advance of Obama’s arrival. It would not be a surprise to learn that the Eikenberry leaks are part of a design to deal with Karzai and McChrystal.
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