Big Afghan leaders don't cry

Posted By Blake Hounshell Tuesday, September 28, 2010 - 9:25 AM Share

I'm no expert on Afgahanistan -- but I know enough about the country to understand that crying in public probably won't win you too many supporters:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wept on Tuesday as he called on Afghans to “come to their senses” and move faster towards peace, or risk seeing the next generation flee abroa and lose their Afghan identity.

Afghans must live and work in their country and serve it, he said, as he identified for the first time some of the members of a peace council that will help seek a political rather than military end to fighting with Taliban-led insurgents.

“I do not want Mirwais, my son, to be a foreigner, I do not want this. I want Mirwais to be Afghan,” said Karzai, who himself spent many years in exile in Pakistan, while fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and later during Taliban rule.

“Therefore come to your senses ... you are witnessing what is happening on our soil and only through our efforts can our homeland be ours,” he added, drawing huge applause from an audience at a international literacy day event in a Kabul school.

I wonder how the Taliban will make use of this? Aside from the crying, the sentiment here is not exactly inspiring: Apparently Karzai is considering getting out of Dodge, or at least sending his son abroad for safekeeping. What does that say about his confidence in his own leadership?

I hope Doug Lute and David Petraeus are drawing up contingency plans right now.

One other note: I've been reading the Woodward book, and apparently not only do some U.S. intelligence reports say that Karzai is manic-depressive, others say he smokes weed. Again: not confidence-inspiring.

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:AFGHANISTAN
 

BHESSEL

11:51 AM ET

September 28, 2010

cut Karzai a break

Only a psychopath could undertake that job without occasionally crying or indulging in some sort of distraction. Afghanistan is not so much a country as it is a collection of tribes and the role of the (invariably weak) central government is to mediate disputes and facilitate the distribution of foreign loot. The presence of foreign troops always complicates matters—because it makes stealing the foreign aid considerably harder—and running a weak central government in a high stress situation for the better part of a decade must surely take its toll.

As for his son, Karzai is clearly NOT saying that he is considering “ sending his son abroad for safekeeping” but rather just the opposite. His lament is that his son—and other young Afghans with the means and opportunity—may decide to move out of Afghanistan because things are so screwed up there.

Speaking of which, we are nuts trying to build a viable civil society/government in Afghanistan. The Russians—who have been neighbors to Afghanistan for centuries—couldn’t do it. The British—expert empire builders and spawners of successful governments on four continents—couldn’t do it.

If it is truly in the interests of the USA to expend resources encouraging the fusion of Islam and the free enterprise system, then we should be concentrating on engaging with real countries with literate populations and an established middle class such as Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, and/or Pakistan.

Pouring resources into such a futile effort in Afghanistan makes about as much sense as throwing good taxpayer money after bad bailing out the banksters at AIG, Citibank, Fannie & Freddie, Goldman Sachs, et al…oh, wait…nevermind.

 

SHACKELFORD

2:50 PM ET

September 28, 2010

Ugly American

Afghan culture treats masculinity and leadership very differently than we do here in the US. Displays of affection and sorrow, especially over one's immediate family are more common, and read much differently that we would. One can cry and still be an inspiring leader (think Oprah, and you're maybe halfway there). Pithy articles like this that fail to even attempt to examine how such displays are viewed domestically are a sad example of stereotypical American arrogance.

 

A.L.M.

3:00 PM ET

September 28, 2010

I have to agree with

I have to agree with Shackelford in some way...I don't understand the big deal made over him crying. This post has a very stereotypical U.S. viewpoint on someone showing emotion. Other countries do not have such stigma against it. It certainly has nothing to do with having confidence in a leader. Had he cried over a dead bug, then I'd worry about his mental state.

 

COSTOFWARBLOG

7:45 PM ET

September 29, 2010

Foust, who wrote in response to you, is spot on!

what frustrates Karzai to the verge of tears is that the enormity and the difficulty of the task is overshadowed by the talk of his incompetence and corruption.

You are simply taking the media reports to face value.

In the popular opinion in the west, Hamid Karzai has turned into the image of corrupt governance and insecurity. This would enrage any dignified man who took the task of leading the country understanding that the world was aware of the enormity of the task. today, the world has forgotten the context and simply considers him as the problem

I argue that no-one is more concerned about the problems in the country than he is. But most people are forgetting the realities that he has to deal with and turning against him instead:

http://costofwar.wordpress.com/

 

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.

Read More