From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Wed Apr 28 2010 - 22:26:39 EDT
U.S. puppet cuts his strings
by Eric Margolis
Henry Kissinger once observed that it was more dangerous being America’s
ally than its enemy.
The latest example: the U.S.-installed Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who
is in serious hot water with his really angry patrons in Washington.
The Obama administration is blaming the largely powerless Karzai, a former
CIA “asset,” for America’s failure to defeat the Taliban. Washington
accused Karzai of rigging last year’s elections. True enough, but the
U.S. pre-rigged the Afghan elections by excluding all parties opposed to
western occupation.
Washington, which supports dictators and phoney elections across the Muslim
world, had the chutzpah to blast Karzai for corruption and rigging votes.
This while the Pentagon was engineering a full military takeover of
Pakistan.
The Obama administration made no secret it wanted to replace Karzai. You
could almost hear Washington crying, “Bad puppet! Bad puppet!”
Karzai fired back, accusing the U.S. of vote-rigging. He has repeatedly
demanded the U.S. military stop killing so many Afghan civilians.
Next, Karzai dropped a bombshell, asserting the U.S. was occupying
Afghanistan to dominate the energy-rich Caspian Basin region, not because
of the non-existent al-Qaida or Taliban. Karzai said Taliban was
“resisting western occupation.” The U.S. will soon have 100,000
soldiers in Afghanistan, plus 40,000 dragooned NATO troops.
Karzai even half-jested he might join Taliban.
Washington had apoplexy. A vicious propaganda campaign was unleashed
against Karzai. The New York Times, a mouthpiece for the Obama
administration and ardent backer of the Afghan war, all but called for the
overthrow of Karzai and his replacement by a compliant general.
An American self-promoter, Peter Galbraith, who had been fired from his job
with the UN in Kabul, was trotted out to tell media that Karzai might be
both a drug addict and crazy.
Behind this ugly, if also comical, spat lay a growing divergence between
Afghans and Washington. After 31 years of conflict, nearly three million
dead, millions more refugees and frightful poverty, Afghans yearn for
peace.
For the past two years, Karzai and his warlord allies have been holding
peace talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia.
Karzai knows the only way to end the Afghan conflict is to enfranchise the
nation’s Pashtun majority and its fighting arm, the Taliban. Political
compromise with the Taliban is the only — and inevitable — solution.
But the Obama administration, misadvised by Washington neocons and other
hardliners, is determined to “win” a military victory in Afghanistan
(whatever that means) to save face as a great power and impose a settlement
that leaves it in control of strategic Afghanistan.
Accordingly, the U.S. thwarted Karzai’s peace talks by getting Pakistan,
currently the recipient of $7 billion in U.S. cash, to arrest senior
Taliban leaders sheltering there who had been part of the ongoing peace
negotiations with Kabul.
It was Karzai’s turn to be enraged. So he began openly defying his
American patrons and adopting an independent position. The puppet was
cutting his strings.
Karzai’s newfound boldness was due to the fact that both India and China
are eager to replace U.S./British/NATO domination of Afghanistan. India is
pouring money, arms and agents into Afghanistan and training government
forces. China, more discreetly, is moving in to exploit Afghanistan’s
recently discovered mineral wealth that, says Karzai, is worth $1 trillion,
according to a U.S. government geological survey.
Russia, still smarting from its 1980s defeat in Afghanistan, is watching
America’s travails there with rich enjoyment and not a little yearning
for revenge. Moscow has its own ambitions in Afghanistan.
This column has long suggested Karzai’s best option is to distance
himself from American tutelage and demand the withdrawal of all foreign
occupation forces.
Risky business, of course. Remember Kissinger’s warning. Karzai could end
up dead. But he could also become a national hero and best candidate to
lead an independent Afghanistan that all ethnic groups could accept.
Alas, the U.S. keeps making the same mistake of seeking obedient clients
rather than democratic allies who are genuinely popular and legitimate.
ericEric Margolis, contributing foreign editor for Sun National Media
Canada. He is the author of War at the Top of the World and the new book,
American Raj: Liberation or Domination? : Resolving the Conflict Between
http://www.planetarymovement.org/go/newsflash/u.s.-puppet-cuts-his-strings-by-eric-margolis/
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