The Karzai factor

One thing I saw this morning, pacific time, was a reports of how Afghanistan president Karazi wanted McChrystal to stay and "NOT" be let go. I heard reports of how close the two of them had become. One of the things I heard about the Rolling Stones interview was the McChrystal was saying that the dead line next year to pull out troops was not set in stone and he thought they needed to stay "LONGER". Now not long ago I read a lot of articles about Karzai being upset with the U.S., saying things like they needed to stay at least 10 years more, and was bad mouthing the U.S. and making idol threats. Some even said the man was losing it. Over the years I also have heard about how he and his brother have been playing both sids of this war working with the U.S., and taking large sums of money from the U.S., and making deals with the Taliban at the same time. There were also reports of his brother being involved in the drug trade in Afghanistan and getting the U.S; military to take out his competition in the drug trade.

To me the thought of Karzai wanting the president to "KEEP" McChrystal in charge and not fire him raised all kinds of red flags. Not saying the general was also corrupt, but that maybe Karzai had convinced the general that the U.S. "NEEDED" to stay since that is also what the general seemed to be saying. Just the idea of such a corrupt president being so close with the U.S. commander really made me start wondering!

Anyone else wonder about this?

is that the brother who used to have the restuarant in Maryland?

It's the one that is supposed to be on the payroll of the CIA and governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1932862,00.html

seems like a corrupt organization?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/world/asia/05karzai.html

Good OP.

There is a long history of US military leaders -- though certainly not all of them -- who feel far more comfortable with corrupt, amoral "leaders" like Karzai, than with leadership that promotes democracy and social justice. McChrystal and Karzai are simply a current example of this type of thing.

The military likes to do things their own way, and if you have a corrupt leader in charge you can pretty much find some kind of way to get what you want! I agree not all of them are like this, but I am sure that Karzai didn't get where he is today without a lot of help from the last bunch of crooks that ran our country, the Bush Cheney gang!

that relationship with Karzai to maybe help "win" him over to our side, to gain his trust and not be dancing with the Taliban at the same time. I also got the sense that Kazai is lazy and pretty much uninvolved so it would make sense he would want us there to make it easier on him.

I'm interested to see others' opinions as I have no idea if my assessment is valid.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1932862,00.html

This might help.