---

Last Updated on April 8, 2010.

In what amounts to a shocking degree of candor for a high-level diplomat, Peter Galbraith, a former UN envoy to Afghanistan, continues his criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai today with an OpEd in the Washington Post on “Why Hamid Karzai Makes a Bad Partner for the U.S.” After detailing how Karzai’s ineffective governance has earned Afghanistan the honor of being ranked the second most corrupt nation in the world, how Karzai himself managed to steal 1 million votes in the latest Presidential election – fully 1/3 of his vote total, and how he recently told Afghan parliamentarians that he might join the ranks of the Taliban, Galbraith concludes:

President Obama should halt the surge in Afghanistan and initiate a partial withdrawal — not as a means to pressure Karzai but because Karzai’s government is incapable of becoming a credible local partner.

Galbraith, you may remember, has already been in the news this week for suggesting that Karzai might have a problem with drug abuse, telling MSNBC’s program “The Daily Run Down”: “There are reports to that effect. But whatever the cause is, the reality is that he is — he can be very emotional.”

Read Gailbraith’s full editorial here and coverage of his accusation that Karzai might have a drug problem here and here.

April 8, 2010