December 21st, 2009 by Zack

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is defending his cabinet choices from criticism that appointees will do little to solve the country’s problems.  Several of the new ministers have been accused of “wrongdoing, poor performance, and corrupt practices.”  Despite these concerns, many Western governments have expressed guarded, but generally positive reactions to the choices.  The choices still must gain parliamentary approval and Al-Arabiya writes that 23 of the 25 nominees will face an arduous approval process. 

Nushin Arbabzadah discusses Karzai’s difficult position of balancing divergent U.S. and Afghan expectations.  One major point of contention is that the Afghan people believe any minister who holds strong ties with the West, something the U.S. would prefer, will likely flee the country at the first sign of crisis.  Ultimately, both groups are expecting too much, too soon.

In the ongoing military campaign, Jon Weiner argues that defenders of the war effort need to emphasize that the West has an obligation to the Afghan people to build a secular, civil society.  NATO has reportedly devised a new strategy to pay Taliban-allied villages to switch sides as the U.S. ramps up its troop presence.  Lastly, Daily Kos has an extensive blog post detailing the fact that even though the West continues to hang its hopes on new strategies to build the Afghan army, there is little expectation that Afghanistan will be able to maintain a cohesive, motivated military force.

Posted in Afghanistan, Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Human Rights, Military, Public Opinion, Taliban, US foreign policy |