1115.org

In the wake of new reports detailing prisoner abuse and murder by American soldiers in Afghani jails, Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai spoke his mind last week:

“It has shocked me totally. We condemn it…We want the U.S. government to take very, very strong action to take away people like that working with their forces in Afghanistan…No operations inside Afghanistan,” he said, “should take place without the consultation of the Afghan government.”

Just a day later, Karzai learned what happens to puppets who speak without permission from their puppeteers:

“Although President Karzai has been well aware of the difficulty in trying to implement an effective ground eradication program, he has been unwilling to assert strong leadership, even in his own province of Kandahar,” said the [May 13]cable, which was drafted by embassy personnel involved in the anti- drug efforts, two American officials said.

A copy of the three-page cable, addressed to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was shown to the New York Times by a U.S. official alarmed at the slow pace of the destruction of poppy fields.

The unnamed official was apparently so alarmed that he waited a whole week between receiving the cable and leaking it to the Times, the day after Karzai’s statements on prisoner abuse embarrassed the administration.

Karzai may or may not be serious about drug eradication, but poppy fields are hardly a new problem. Karzai has little power outside Kabul, and has survived several assassination only thanks to American soldiers protecting him. If the Taliban could force farmers not to grow drugs, there is no reason that poppies should flourish now. Our continued military presence in Afghanistan makes the blame placed on Karzai hypocritical, adding insult to the injury of the leaked report.