Afghan mire is getting worse for US

Daily incidents take a constant toll of U.S. lives, and accelerated indigenization of security has brought fresh risks by placing weapons in unreliable hands. The set piece battle in Helmand was intended to swing the balance but seems bogged down, so that the major strike aimed at Kandahar has had to be postponed.

The McChrystal affair exposed divisions at the top and support for the war effort is waning. These are perilous times for the Administration, with a steady decline in the President's popularity. The economy may be the most significant cause for the decline but the Afghan war has contributed.

Strong voices in Congress, previously supportive, now favor, even demand, an early end, and feel that continued commitment to the war on the present scale is not commensurate with U.S. interests. Allies in the ISAF have commenced winding down their commitment.

In these circumstances, there is all the greater need for a clear and convincing understanding on future strategy between Washington and the local leadership, and this may have helped drive Clinton to Kabul to confer with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai's Shortcomings

The Afghan leader, who has survived many political vicissitudes, currently does not enjoy high regard in Washington, where he is considered uncertain in his ability to handle the Taliban, and ambiguous in matters like democracy, rule of law, and control of corruption. The regional overspill of the struggle also demands attention.

In its early days, the Obama Administration tried to drum up support in South Asia with the proposition that for the first time the main players — Afghanistan, Pakistan, India — had a common foe, the Taliban, and could come together to oppose it.

This is true enough, but not all the regional countries see it this way: even in the midst of the crisis, Pakistan would not be budged from the perception that its real foe was India, and it has been more concerned to keep India at a distance from Afghanistan rather than treat it as a partner in a common cause.

Indeed, Afghanistan has become a fresh arena of contention rather than an area for India and Pakistan to cooperate with each other. Nor do Afghanistan and Pakistan see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, even though they have drawn closer in recent months.

Thus there was much for Clinton to do. One positive outcome of her visit was an Afghan-Pakistan transit agreement, one of whose features is that Afghan goods will be permitted to move across Pakistan to the Indian border. This promises to restore arrangements from the early post-Independence years when Afghan fruits came overland to India where they were greatly prized.

In those days, the season would begin with a mad rush of trucks along the Grand Trunk Road, each racing to be first, bringing loads of fresh Afghan fruits from the Wagah border to Delhi. Now Delhiwallas can hope to see a revival of their love affair with the grapes, melons and pomegranates of Afghanistan. The scope of the agreement concluded during Clinton's visit may be modest but it offers immediate benefits to both producers and consumers of Afghanistan's most characteristic products.

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