Afghanistan Corruption Condition cp

Solvency – Reforms Pre-Req to Aff

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Barack Obama's tone in Kabul was all business as he hammered home his theme that the Afghans need to do more to fight corruption and reform government to defeat the Taliban. The arm's-length approach was the administration's latest attempt to strike the right balance in dealing with President Hamid Karzai. Although the U.S. believes Karzai is a flawed leader, it cannot afford to alienate him because his reforms are key to a successful American exit from the war. Former President George W. Bush established a more personal relationship with Karzai. In contrast, Obama was critical of Karzai from the start, stating last December when he announced his troop surge that "the days of providing a blank check are over." Neither strategy worked well. Bush's approach failed to push Karzai toward more effective governance. Obama's criticism angered Karzai, feeding fears that the Americans were trying to undermine him. The Afghan president's visits in recent weeks to neighboring China and Iran show that he has options for support from other countries. Such blunt criticism from the U.S. now appears more measured. A day after the visit, Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar, described the two leaders' private meeting as cordial and dismissed reports that Obama flew to Kabul on Sunday to order a recalcitrant Karzai to get his government in line. "Our relationship with the United States has gone through ups and downs," Omar said Monday. "At this point in time, there are more ups than downs. We have certain views about certain issues and they have certain views about certain issues. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't."

“There is a thin curtain between invasion and cooperation-assistance.” So said Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a speech last Thursday. But, if there is also a thin curtain between political necessity in a war-torn nation and abuse of power, Karzai is dangerously close to the wrong side. The past months have seen a cooling of his relationship with the United States, but more importantly they have seen an increasing trend toward the centralization of power. Signs of corruption in his government have been present for years, but they seem particularly dire in light of recent events. Karzai must reform his administration and accept the balance of power or he will lose all legitimacy — and, with it, any hope of a stable government in Afghanistan. Though several of Karzai’s actions over the past months warrant concern, a few are particularly egregious. The first of these was the widespread fraud in Afghanistan’s presidential election last year. In the first ballot, Karzai received over 54 percent of the vote, but the election commission investigated nearly 20 percent of polling stations for fraud. Karzai initially refused a run-off vote, and though he eventually allowed one, it never occurred because his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the race. Abdullah cited his lack of faith in a fair election when he left the race. It is easy to cynically assert that fair and free elections are simply impossible in Afghanistan, a country that suffered under the Taliban for seven years and has since experienced over eight years of conflict. And while truly democratic elections with high turnout may be idealistic, the future of Afghanistan is not so bleak that we should accept fraud without complaint. Some pre-election opinion polls gave Abdullah over 30 percent of the vote. The Afghan people are not blind to the events in their country, but they must be able to have their opinions heard. In fact, the problems Karzai is creating within Afghanistan pose as much of a threat as his foreign policy failures. Many in Afghanistan blame him for economic problems as well as government corruption. He has not taken firm steps to control the poppy trade that funds Taliban fighters. The hope of a prosperous and reborn Afghanistan that existed after the fall of the Taliban government has only partially come to pass, and Karzai’s is the most recognizable face associated with this failure.