Reply #18: I agree - everyone from Kerry to McChrystal has said we can't win this for a corrupt government [View All]

It is not a good sign that Karzai has become defiant in defending his corrupt government. That might be why the Eikenberry cable was leaked. That cable is devastating in its impact on many levels. One level is that if Karzai now makes the major changes that have to be made and kicks his brother out, the cable will be used as proof that he is a puppet with the US pulling the strings. Karzai was already viewed as a US puppet, but might reinforce that above a threshold that Afghans could tolerate. I would guess that if there was any hope that Karzai had any intention of really cleaning house the people rumoured to leak it, would not have done so.

I think that this does lead to either withdrawal or trying to work with many local leaders, which would have to be a logistical nightmare and those leaders are often warlords, many of whom make Karzai look acceptable in comparison, which is not easy to do.