Whatever we may think, there are way too many Afghans who think our partner, Karzai and his team, are downright awful.<\/p>\n
That is why it is not enough for us to simply dispatch more troops. If we are going to make a renewed commitment in Afghanistan, we have to visibly display to the Afghan people that we expect a different kind of governance from Karzai, or whoever rules, and refuse to proceed without it. It doesn\u2019t have to be Switzerland, but it does have to be good enough \u201d\u201d that is, a government Afghans are willing to live under. Without that, more troops will only delay a defeat.<\/p>\n
I am not sure Washington fully understands just how much the Taliban-led insurgency is increasingly an insurrection against the behavior of the Karzai government \u201d\u201d not against the religion or civilization of its international partners. And too many Afghan people now blame us for installing and maintaining this government.<\/p>\n