Ambassador to Afganistan explains reservations on troop increase

The Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, has contacted the President to express his concerns about the plan to increase troops. The recently elected Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has since contacted the US Embassy in Afghanistan to try to determine exactly what was said. Officials have not confirmed the contents of the cables, instead merely saying that Eikenberry "expressed concern and reservations about troop increases in Afghanistan." The reason for his concern is that he is not quite sure how exactly Karzai is going to implement his hand in the government, and exactly what type of government Karzai is going to bring. Eikenberry has, in the past, expressed his concerns about corruption in Karzai's government, and how effective he will be in working with the US to fight the Taliban. Eikenberry also feels that Karzai has not been consistent in his behavior, which is worrisome for Obama.



http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/12/obama.afghanistan/index.html



Although the article did not say much about Karzai's questioning about the documents (who's existance has been confirmed by White House officials on two seperate occasions), this paranoid behavior seems to say that the Afghan president is indeed flaky, as Eikenberry had expressed. Even though the United States has managed to implement a democratic voting system in Afghanistan, there is still a lot to do before the corruption, etc., are out of the system.
To fight the Taliban, the US is going to definitely need to cooperation of the Afghan government, which, as Eikenberry states, is not definite.