The Obama Administration’s dysfunctional approach to dealing with Iran has many negative consequences for American foreign policy. Those negative consequences are particularly acute for American interests in Afghanistan. U.S. officials are beating a hasty retreat from President Obama’s ill-conceived dressing down of Afghan President Hamid Karzai during Obama’s March 28 stop in Kabul. Obama’s trip to Afghanistan touched off another firestorm of commentary about President Hamid Karzai’s worthiness as America’s “partner”.
But underlying Obama’s ineffective approach to Karzai—an approach tried previously and unsuccessfully by Vice President Biden and special envoy Richard Holbrooke—is a deeper strategic problem: America’s war against Al-Qa’ida and the Taliban in Afghanistan was not, is not, and will never be Karzai’s war. America’s only chance at success there is through a regional strategy for Afghanistan that would necessarily include an important role for Iran.
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Both links in that post go to the weekly standard ....
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