Why Obama Keeps Putting Up With Karzai’s Chutzpah
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Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- “We want the Americans to respectour sovereignty and be an honest partner. And bring a lot ofmoney.”
Thus declared Afghan President Hamid Karzai to a council ofhis country’s tribal elders, the loya jirga. You have to hand itto him: No client regime before has shown such open disregardfor its patron and protector. In its engagements in what used tobe called the third world, the U.S. had the misfortune of ridingwith a bunch of unsavory rulers -- Fulgencio Batista of Cuba,Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua, Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam,Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and so on.