As Karzai starts new term, doubts grow that he'll finish

[unhappycamper]

As Karzai starts new term, doubts grow that he'll finish
By Dion Nissenbaum | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — On the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's swearing-in for a second term, speculation is growing that he could be forced to step aside before he finishes his next five years in office.

The challenge before him is monumental: Regain the trust of voters disenchanted by the fraud-tainted election that returned him to power, assure frustrated world leaders that the billions of dollars spent trying to stabilize Afghanistan haven't been wasted or stolen and, with the help of U.S. and NATO forces, recover control of large parts of the country from Taliban fighters.

The 51-year-old president has to please contradictory forces to survive: the discredited Afghan political allies who helped him win re-election, and the international community, which is demanding an end to cronyism and to pervasive government corruption.

Karzai has to assure President Barack Obama quickly that he has a credible partner if Obama decides to send as many as 40,000 more American soldiers to the fight in Afghanistan.

Karzai will have to help build a competent Afghan military capable of battling emboldened insurgents who now are operating in much of his country. He also has to contain a thriving opium industry that's the source of 90 percent of the world's heroin supply, often with the complicity of corrupt officials and police officers.


Rest of article at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/washington/story/79036.html

[denem]

1. General Ngô Diem was buried in an unmarked grave.

[DFW]

2. Leave before finishing his term?

He can go on Oprah with Palin!