Karzai keeps US on tenterhooks

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-210114.html



Karzai keeps US on tenterhooks
By Bipin Shah
Jan 21, '14

It is becoming increasingly urgent for the US to seal a deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over US troops remaining on Afghan soil, particularly since US President Barack Obama must also be seen to be fulfilling his promise to the American people that the withdrawal will happen before his second term expires.

Karzai has the power to sign the deal, but he has used one excuse after another to delay doing so. Karzai's fears do not derive from the implications of residual international forces staying, in fact he needs this. Rather, the issues behind this delay are geopolitical and concern possible fall outs with neighboring countries.

The last thing Karzai needs is another proxy war between a Pakistan-sponsored Taliban and a Tajik-dominated Northern Alliance supported by Russia, India and Iran.

Americans are driven by self-interest, yet they have a knack of getting involved in conflicts without planning a clear exist strategy. Defense and other commercial interests take over once the fighting starts, and the logic and purpose of the initiation is often lost with devastating consequences to themselves and the world.