Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, has said that upon confirmation of his re-election he will seek national reconciliation with the Taliban- within the first 100 days of his administration.

While he added that the Taliban would have to renounce any ties to al Qaeda as well as recognize the Afghan constitution in order to make relations between his administration and their party grow, this is a disturbing thing to hear. Compare it to the attempts by the U.S. to repair and negotiate relations between Israel and the Palestinian authority- decades of basic requests that have only resulted in continued animosity.

Oh, and Karzai accused the U.S. of smearing his friends and family in an effort to undermine his position and make it easier for the U.S. to bend him to their (our) purposes. I don’t know which is further off the mark- thinking he can get the Taliban back into the fold or thinking it’s a good idea to accuse the U.S. of coercion. Maybe Karzai should put in a call to Van Jones and talk to him about what a real smear campaign feels like.

Things in Afghanistan are not smooth, have never been smooth, and are a challenge to Obama’s international policy and foreign relations machine, his position on terrorism and how to deal with it in general, and, perhaps most importantly, a high-stakes example of how he can or cannot work with someone who isn’t a huge fan of the U.S.

"It is in no-one's interest to have an Afghan president who has become an American puppet," said Karzai.

Now that’s a good point, not one I or anyone can argue with. After watching the numerous backfires from the 20th century after the U.S. attempted to influence or put in place puppet governments or leaders, I don’t think anyone wants that to be happening again. And that really isn’t Obama’s style at all. Karzai, on the other hand, may be feeling some pressure from all sides-

He believes that the Obama administration are accusing his opponent of things and that the accusations are intended for him. He wants to reconcile with the Taliban, he is admitting election corruption in his country, he is condemning the NATO attacks from last week.  

"The Americans attack Karzai in an underhand fashion because they want him to be more tractable. They are wrong. It is in their interest ... that Afghanistan's people respect their president," he said, and yes, he referred to himself in the third person.

It may be about respect- and I can respect that. I have no grasp of politics in Afghanistan. But it seems that Karzai has no grasp of international politics either- you don’t accuse the country that is the major military presence in your nation of trying to smear you, condemn their latest military offensive, and then say that one of your first moves, if re-elected, will be to try and re-start relations with the former terrorist-hiding government. That’s not good foreign policy, my friend.

"As far as the elections are concerned, there was fraud in 2004, there is today, there will be tomorrow. Alas, it is inevitable in a nascent democracy," said Karzai.

Alas? This may strike some as honesty and acceptance of the reality, but it strikes me as a weak admission of fractured power, and, more importantly, a tough admission to reconcile with his desire to restart relations with the Taliban.