As one observer noted, ‘The Taliban-led insurgency is increasingly an insurrection against the behavior of the Karzai government—not against the religion or civilization of its international partners.’

The basic concept behind an insurgency, after all, is revolt against current political administration. As Thomas L. Friedman stated, “When you are mounting a counterinsurgency campaign, the local government is the critical bridge between your troops and your goals. If that government is rotten, your whole enterprise is doomed.” This is perhaps what Washington does not grasp as it continues to support the fraudulent reelection of Hamid Karzai, touted to be a corrupt coddler of Afghan warlords.

Troop surge in Afghanistan, no matter how often and how big, will not solve the insurgency in the country. Foreign soldiers will not make the Afghan people denounce the Taliban and support what is largely perceived as a tainted government. ‘Karzai’s government is thoroughly corrupt and his election victory deeply tainted. Much of the insurgency is now fueled by anti-Karzai animosity instead of Islamic extremism, and the US risks being seen as the enforcer of his corrupt government.’ It is time for the US to stop thinking through the barrel of a gun.

Friedman notes in the New York Times that success in Afghanistan would mean that the ‘US must order the Karzai government to clean up to become acceptable to the Afghan people, and threaten to pull out if Karzai balks.’ He argues, “It doesn’t have to be Switzerland, but it does have to be good enough—that is, a government Afghans are willing to live under. Without that, more troops will only delay a defeat.”

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Via The New York Times