Ordered out of Wardak

As the US begins to transition its forces out of Afghanistan, the local army will have to step in. Afghan President Hamid Karzai took a helpful first step in that direction by ordering US special forces to withdraw from the province of Wardak, blasting them for contributing to the cycle of violence in the region. It is not yet clear if the Americans will comply with President Karzai’s order but they would be wise to do so, since this could be a good test case for seeing how the Afghan government can cope on its own. It would also show that the US is willing to treat the Karzai administration as the legitimate elected government of Afghanistan and not just its proxy in the region.

Although President Karzai is widely seen as a US puppet, he has often had strained relations with the Americans and has been trying to assert his authority. But it is not yet clear if he is capable of holding the country on his own. One of the reasons the US has been unable to withdraw from the region is that Afghan forces have simply not proven to be up to the task of defending their own country from the Taliban and assorted warlords. However, indefinite US occupation is simply not possible, both because it ends up fuelling even more violence in Afghanistan and because of war fatigue in the US.

For now, the US would also be wise to reduce the frequency of aerial attacks, both through drone and other means, in the rest of the country too. There is every indication that these attacks from the sky, which are seen by locals as a sign of cowardice and arrogance, lead to more retaliatory attacks and help recruitment for the Taliban. This offsets whatever gains are made through the attacks. Afghan forces also need to realise that they will have to learn to fight on their own without US air cover. US withdrawal is supposed to be mostly complete by 2014; it might be a good idea for the Obama Administration to speed up the transition.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2013.