Peter Galbraith Says Hamid Karzai May be on Drugs

Peter Galbraith, former UN ambassador to Afghanistan, says in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakari that the recent weird actions of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s US supported President, may be due to the consequences of taking drugs. While Afghanistan is the source for approximately 90% of the world’s heroin supply it also produces a substantial amount of marijuana and hashish. The use of marijuana and hashish is common in Afghanistan, even in the military, and it is the use of these drugs that Galbraith suggests may explain
Karzai’s erratic and weird behavior. Galbraith doesn’t believe that Karzai would risk being a heroine user even though it is widely rumored that his brother is a heroine warlord with considerable influence in Helmand province.

The most recent Karzai strange behavior was his statement that the recent presidential election was indeed fraudulent and that the United States and allied forces were responsible for the fraud. He then went on to say that perhaps he would go over to the other side and become a member of the Taliban. This bizarre statement from the president of Afghanistan occurred only days after president Obama made a surprise trip to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, to meet with Karzai. It was widely reported that during the meeting president Obama chastised Karzai and strongly encouraged him to do more to eliminate corruption within his government and to do more for the Afghan people living in the countryside.

Karzai certainly seems to be getting thin skinned about receiving constant criticism from US government officials. His recent outbursts have become increasingly shrill and have shown that he is becoming increasingly independent in regard to supporting American policy for the region.

It is understandable that the president of any nation would resent being treated and viewed as a puppet of a foreign government. This presents a dilemma for the United States. It is arguably true that the Obama administration, as well as the preceding Bush administration, was and is determined to control events within Afghanistan, including the policies of the so-called democratic government. The fact that Karzai is showing an independent streak and speaking out against US and NATO actions in Afghanistan is not a welcome development in Washington. After spending many billions of dollars over a period of nine years, and losing nearly 1000 American warrior’s lives with many others gravely injured, the United States would greatly prefer that Karzai consider the US as the senior partner rather than an adversary.

As expressed in his interview, Peter Galbraith believes that the war in Afghanistan is one that we cannot win. As the new COIN (counter insurgency) strategy requires that US and NATO forces work with a strong Afghanistan government partner, the fact that the Afghanistan president is now speaking out against the US and NATO forces does not bode well for that strategy and is a huge reason that Peter Galbraith feels that the war cannot be won.

Should Galbreath’s fears that Karzai is under the influence of drugs as well as the warlords eventually be proven correct, his belief that the United States is wasting considerable human and financial resources on Afghanistan will prove to be well-founded. It is difficult to believe that a partner under the influence of drugs could be considered a reliable partner, yet the United States has few options except to rely upon president Karzai. With Hamid Karza as president the outlook for a successful conclusion to the war in Afghanistan seems to be rather bleak.

The United States really has no good options available to it in regard to Afghanistan. I strongly suspect that president Obama will soon greatly regret his actions to make the Afghanistan war his war.