Obama threatens to take ball, go home

Ex-PH2 sends us a link to the Associated Press which reports that President Obama called the Taliban’s chief propagandist, Hamid Karzai, for the first time since last summer and threatened to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan if the nation doesn’t sign the agreement that the two parties had negotiated last year for a continued presence of Americans there;

“We will leave open the possibility of concluding a (security agreement) with Afghanistan later this year,” the White House said in a statement following the call. “However, the longer we go without a (deal), the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any U.S. mission.”

Obama’s attempt to minimize Karzai’s importance to U.S. decision-making underscores how fractured the relationship between the two leaders has become. Tuesday’s phone call was the first direct contact between Obama and Karzai since last June. The Afghan leader has deeply irritated Washington with anti-American rhetoric, as well as with his decision this month to release 65 prisoners over the objections of U.S. officials.

The White House insists it won’t keep any American troops in Afghanistan after December without a security agreement giving the military a legal basis for staying in the country.

So, who is surprised that setting an arbitrary withdrawal date to force Afghanistan to take responsibility for their own security is causing all of these problems? I mean, it was Joe Bite Me’s idea, so why isn’t it working?

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Terror War