Karzai Blamies Britain, US, For Taliban Resurgence

By Cernig

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has said he made a mistake in listening to US and British officials who said they had things under control and that their mistakes directly led to the resurgence of the Taliban in Helmland province.

"There was one part of the country where we suffered after the arrival of the British forces," Karzai said. "Before that we were fully in charge of Helmand. When our governor was there, we were fully in charge.

"They came and said, 'Your governor is no good'. I said 'All right, do we have a replacement for this governor; do you have enough forces?'. Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them.

"And when they came in, the Taliban came."

This is big news in Canada and the UK - where the British government has scurried to parse Karzai's statement in a way that lets them deny it without denying the facts - yet it's hardly even on the radar in primary-obsessed America. Even if the primary race was about policy rather than mud, stories like this might get an airing (after Britney's latest meltdown, of course) but right now the US electorate regards its primaries as if they're American Idol, not selecting someone who is meant to be able to get a handle on s**t like Afghanistan. No wonder you end up with idiots like Dubya in charge.