Rebuilding Trust in Afghanistan

The recent events in Afghanistan have sharpened the levels of mis-trust between Afghanistan and the United States. Karzai's erratic rhetoric and hard-line stances on negotiations for the strategic partnership have prompted many in the U.S. to decide that leaving Afghanistan sooner is better. Recent blunders by the U.S. such as the Koran burning, Panjwai killings, and other events have some in Afghanistan asking for a speedier transfer of security responsibilities, end of night raids, transfer of authority for running detention centers, and other moving ISAF forces from Afghan villages to the big bases.

Omar Samad, a Senior Afghanistan Expert at the United States Institute of Peace, has wrote a column that explores this mistrust and states that we have to rebuild mutual respect to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan. See "Facing the Afghan obstacle course", The AFPAK Channel on Foreign Policy, March 20, 2012.