Bloomberg: Obama Would Be `Strong' Afghan Partner, Karzai Spokesman Says

[highplainsdem]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adc_LxrvDVkM&refer=home

By Bill Varner

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai came away from a meeting today with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama expecting he would have a ``strong partner'' in the White House no matter who wins the U.S. election, his spokesman said.

Obama and U.S. Senators Chuck Hagel and Jack Reed spent an hour and 45 minutes with Karzai and his top aides in the presidential palace in Kabul, including a working lunch of traditional Afghan rice, lamb and chicken, spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told reporters. Obama left Afghanistan after the meeting without making any public statement.

Hamidzada reported a ``very friendly environment'' that didn't include substantive discussion of Obama's plan to send 7,000 additional U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan or his criticism of Karzai's failure to reduce corruption in the nation's government.

``We didn't see that as a criticism,'' Hamidzada said. ``There is a degree of realism in that statement. While we are making progress, we are facing a significant threat of terrorism, which requires spending a lot of our resources to fight. Our hope is that with the support of the U.S. we will defeat terrorism.''

``Losing is not an option when it comes to Afghanistan,'' Obama said in an interview with CBS News.

Hamidzada said the two men didn't discuss Karzai's concerns about civilian deaths caused by U.S. and allied forces. He said an air strike by coalition forces that killed nine Afghan policemen in western Farah province today was mistakenly ordered by Afghanistan's army.

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[whistle]

1. Obama characterizes the Karzai government as "bunkered down"

...which I interpret to mean withdrawn, fortress mentality, non-responsive to the needs of Afghanistan and thus ineffective.

[hedgehog]

2. Can you imagine being Hamid Karzai and realizing that the future

of your country and your personal survival depend on George Bush for the next 6 months?