Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with the new U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, and outlined his conditions for a long-term “strategic partnership” between the two countries, saying a deal will be made only if the U.S. meets the Afghan conditions. Boston University journalism professor Nick Mills, the author of “Karzai: The Failing American Intervention and the Struggle For Afghanistan,” offers the following comment:
“This is part of Karzai’s high-wire act.
“Without the U.S. and other Western allies defending his government, Karzai has no chance of surviving the combined pressures from the Taliban and Pakistan, which, as ever, seeks to control Afghanistan’s destiny so that India won’t.
“So while he says he wants a long-term deal with the U.S., he needs to show the Afghan people that he — not the United States — is dictating the terms.”
Mills can be reached at 617-353-3492 or nmills@bu.edu
