Hamid Karzai is to be sworn in for another full terms as Afghanistan's president on Thursday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exalted, "There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai and his government to make a new compact with the people of Afghanistan, to demonstrate clearly that you're going to have accountability and tangible results that will improve the lives of the people." It is an opportunity for America to do the same. Yet to announce any clear strategy for dealing with war, Obama has made people of both parties uneasy and skeptical. He is expected to soon announce whether he will send 40,000 more troops. Without them, General Stanley McChrystal, top US and NATO commander, fears that the war will be lost. However, this brings up the question of how the war could ever possibly be won. And perhaps more pressingly, if it's even worth trying. Certainly, protecting America and the world from terrorists is important, but inflaming anti-western sentiment in an already volatile region is probably not the best way to go about it. Obama has promised to do everything in his power (which, being the president of the US, is a hell of a lot) to end the war in Afghanistan before the end of his term. He told CNN, with a slight jeer at the previous administration, "My preference would be not to hand off anything to the next president. One of the things I'd like is the next president to be able to come in and say 'I've got a clean slate'."
Obama's decision lies heavily upon how much he can trust Karzai. Western leaders are putting pressure on him to stop corruption in his administration and prove himself to be a leader worth supporting. The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan warned Obama to be wary of sending more troops before Karzai has sincerely demonstrated his desire to clean up Afghanistan's government.
With the Taliban insurgency quickly rising in power, Obama must make a decision soon.
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