President Karzai is, by all accounts, testing the patience of the allied forces in Afghanistan. Just as we prepare to mount an offence in Kandahar he has been muttering about joining the Taliban! This is part of a troubling survivor’s game – Karzai is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand are Obama, McCrystal and the ‘forces of good’ and on the other a thumping great family interest in the form of his more powerful brother Wali Karzai, leader of Kandahar’s provincial council and something of a poppy man.
Karzai should watch his step. There are worrying parallels between the Afghan administration and the US backed Diem government in 1960s South Vietnam. Diem was also a little over fond of his family and his corrupt administration offended that benevolent backer Uncle Sam. It was JFK who authorised the CIA to support a military coup in 1963 which toppled Diem and his brother Nhu. Things on the ground got a little out of hand (as is often the case thousands of miles away) and Diem and his brother were shot dead in the back of a car. Kennedy was reportedly sad when he heard the news. This was not the bloody outcome he wanted. But sometimes when you invade other people’s countries you have to play by their rules……..

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