Imagine the misery of being Karl Eikenberry. He commands the Afghan war back when the Bush administration (and the country) doesn't give a shit about it. He gets brought back by the Obama administration as a novice diplomat, in an implicit recognition that diplomacy doesn't matter at the moment. He speaks the basic truth that Hamid Karzai is an unreliable partner, and after it leaks, he gets marginalized -- unable to deal with Karzai, eclipsed by a succession of U.S. and NATO envoys and generals. Karzai's old enablers call for him to go. And the Obama team doesn't pull him out, leaving Eikenberry in a diplomatic limbo. When Obama finally names Ryan Crocker as a successor, all the accolades Crocker receives are an implicit rebuke.
So it's a testament to Eikenberry's patience that he's waited so long to tell Hamid Karzai to shut the fuck up:
“When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost — in terms of life and treasure — hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest, and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people,” the ambassador said, “they are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here.”
[snip]
“When we hear ourselves being called occupiers and worse, and our generous aid programs dismissed as totally ineffective and the source of all corruption, our pride is offended and we begin to lose our inspiration to carry on,” Mr. Eikenberry said.
At this point, Eikenberry is past being diplomatic. He's on his way out, and it's been years now since he could reasonably thought to speak for the administration. Let Crocker smooth things over. If Karzai wants to bite the hand that keeps him from being strung up from a lamppost, Eikenberry reserves the right to light into him. Does Karzai think he could really get a better deal from any other great-power patron?
The trouble is, as long as the U.S. keeps underwriting Karzai, Karzai has no incentive to change his behavior, and the U.S. won't stop underwriting Karzai. The only factor that could realistically switch up the calculus is peace talks with the Taliban. Get that shit going. Do it for Karl Eikenberry.
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