Afghanistan and the Need for a Credible Leadership

By Fae MacArthur Clark

Last night, Afghanistan's
Independent Election Commission ordered a run-off election between the two main contenders, Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah. This morning Afghani President Hamid Karzai accepted the commission's findings, calling them a "step forward". The run-off has been scheduled for November 9th.

This announcement comes in the wake of comments by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on CNN's "State of the Union", Sunday. Emanuel stated that the primary concern of the administration was whether they had "a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need."

The comments made by Rahm and other key officials have faced responses from some critics which point to the argument for credible Afghani leadership as an "excuse[] for dangerous delay" on the question of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

This deliberation, however, has much to commend it. Democratic Senator John Kerry's recent statement in a CNN satellite interview from Kabul that "it would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the United States to commit more troops to this country, when we don't even have an election finished and know who the president is and what kind of government we're working in" certainly has a lot to recommend it. Whatever our strategy in Afghanistan over the coming years, the Afghani leadership is going to have a significant affect upon whether it achieves its goals and what Afghanistan looks like when the US finally withdraws.

Still, a further delay in making a plan for Afghanistan risks allowing the situation to deteriorate between now and November. If President Obama is going to wait until after the coming election to make a final decision about US policy in Afghanistan in the coming years, then he at least needs to have an interim policy in place until that comes into effect which includes a policy towards the process of the elections themselves.

The current White House debate on Afghanistan is a black box, absorbing information and allowing very little out by way of an indication as to what direction US policy there might take. We cannot afford to continue with this lack of information. The White House needs to make a decision and tell it to the American and Afghani people, even if that decision is simply "we will not commit further US troops to a nation which lacks a credible government and the ability to effectively protect its citizens when US troops do leave. Consequently we will pursue X policy until the conclusion of the coming elections at which point we will reevaluate whether a continued or increased US presence in the country of the sort which General McChrystal has proposed is a feasible option. If a credible Afghani government is not formed then we will need to radically rewrite our policy towards our involvement in that country."