The news today from CBS is that president Obama is "frustrated" with the refusal of Afghan president Karzai to join negotiations for peace with the Taliban, so Obama is considering just pulling all American troops from the country. It is the international relations version of one kid taking his ball and leaving the others unable to play because some other kid did something the first did not like.
It is one of the worst moves Obama has yet made with regard to foreign affairs, and that is truly saying something. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers have fought and risked death in Afghanistan for one reason only: to end conditions that allowed al Qaeda to run training camps in that country. Beyond that, there is no valid reason to be in Afghanistan. It has no strategic or economic value for America whatsoever. Karzai is only in office because of American support for elections, but he still is the head of the Afghan government. If he does not wish to speak to the Taliban, maybe Obama would do well to consider why. Could it be that Karzai understands that the Taliban are not to be trusted and that the negotiations will not be for peace but for a surrender under which US troops leave and the Taliban takes over (slowly, for sure, but definitely nevertheless.) Could it be something else? And if peace talks with the Taliban are such a great idea, why don't we have those talks without participation by Karzai? Wouldn't that be better than just throwing a fit and leaving?
At home, Obama has adopted a new tactic when he is upset about the law of the land: he just declares that it will not be enforced. That happened to immigration laws, Obamacare, and others. Of course, what Obama has done is totally unconstitutional. Still, he has been getting away with these moves for now. Karzai is not going along, however, the way that the Obama groupies do in America. No wonder he is frustrated.
I just hope we will still be America when Obama is done with his term.
It is one of the worst moves Obama has yet made with regard to foreign affairs, and that is truly saying something. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers have fought and risked death in Afghanistan for one reason only: to end conditions that allowed al Qaeda to run training camps in that country. Beyond that, there is no valid reason to be in Afghanistan. It has no strategic or economic value for America whatsoever. Karzai is only in office because of American support for elections, but he still is the head of the Afghan government. If he does not wish to speak to the Taliban, maybe Obama would do well to consider why. Could it be that Karzai understands that the Taliban are not to be trusted and that the negotiations will not be for peace but for a surrender under which US troops leave and the Taliban takes over (slowly, for sure, but definitely nevertheless.) Could it be something else? And if peace talks with the Taliban are such a great idea, why don't we have those talks without participation by Karzai? Wouldn't that be better than just throwing a fit and leaving?
At home, Obama has adopted a new tactic when he is upset about the law of the land: he just declares that it will not be enforced. That happened to immigration laws, Obamacare, and others. Of course, what Obama has done is totally unconstitutional. Still, he has been getting away with these moves for now. Karzai is not going along, however, the way that the Obama groupies do in America. No wonder he is frustrated.
I just hope we will still be America when Obama is done with his term.
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