Whether the US wants Hamid Karzai for Afghanistan leadership or not is now moot. Karzai’s opponent backed out of the runoff and the country is left with no choice but to accept Karzai’s ‘reelection,’ amidst prevailing speculation of massive electoral fraud. ‘Nearly a third of the votes cast in Mr. Karzai’s favor in presidential elections in August were found fraudulent. After much US arm-twisting, he indirectly acknowledged the fraud by agreeing to a runoff election.’

The US, likewise, is left with no choice but to accept Karzai and support him. It is now faced with the challenge of finding a way to work with Karzai, in spite of the fact that this will not help US reputation of supporting corrupt regimes. The superpower must help the tainted Afghan president ‘deliver greater prosperity and security to Afghans’ if the country were to topple the Taliban insurgency and the al-Qaeda influence.

Karzai badly needs legitimization and credibility if he wants to positively influence all his fellow Afghans. The US can encourage him to form a new unity government. Convincing Karzai opponent Abdullah remains to be another colossal challenge.

Karzai is the proudest Pashtun and to treat him with kid’s gloves will not achieve the US objective of lessening corruption in his government. The US investments in Afghanistan in terms of troops and aid give the superpower backer the right to criticize Karzai and influence the selection of his government’s cabinet.

The US should also help decentralize power away from the Kabul seat of government. The US should ‘shift aid and relationships to local and regional leaders’ so as to let them feel that they are integral to the supervision of Afghanistan as a whole. This might provide the necessary checks and balance in national governance.

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Via The Christian Science Monitor