Karzai, Iran, the US, and Bags of Cash

I had the opportunity tonight to chat with PBS NewsHour Chief Anchor Jim Lehrer and former Afghanistan Interior Minister and National Defense University professor Ali Jalali about the solvency of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai given the acknowledgment that he is accepting "bags of cash" from Iran.

Interestingly, at a press conference Karzai also acknowledged that his government was getting similar bags of cash from the United States -- which White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied.

I thought that this was a very good exchange -- and was able to surface some of the key themes from the recently released Afghanistan Study Group Report.

Suffice it to say that former Minister Jalali defended Karzai's government as the only game in town, and I took an opposite view -- suggesting that we had overinvested in Karzai and Afghanistan, which was now trapping and containing American power rather than further leveraging it in the region. Karzai, I suggested, was maximizing his own interests in a tough neighborhood but was an undependable and unreliable ally.

Here is the transcript from the exchange as well.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note. Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons

 

Follow Steve Clemons on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCClemons

Comments

[xtiangodloki]

10:48 AM on 10/29/2010

Cash baggers are popular nowadays.

[MarcEdward]

02:57 PM on 10/28/2010

Where can I sign up to get bags of cash?

[karim banned]

06:12 AM on 10/28/2010

US leave Afghanistan soon or later.

The same way US almost left Iraq.

What happened in Iraq? The people that US had labeled as terrorists, were invited by Maliki into government.

The next government of Iraq will be pro-Iran government. Iraq does not have any choice. Iraq is devastated, needs electricity and sewer and water plants, infrastructures etc. Iraq needs Iran for rebuilding it.

The same way when we leave Afghanistan, Iran does not move away and still is Afghanistan's neighbour. Afghanistan need electricity, running water, infrastructure and Iran is there to help Afghanistan to rebuild after 30 years of devastation and wars.

Karzai knows this, Talibans know this, Iran knows this. The only one putting his head into the sand pretending to not noticing this is US.

It does not matter if US leave Afghanistan today or in 20 years. When US leave, Iran fills out the vacuum created.

[KIampfbeobachter]

10:39 AM on 10/28/2010

Iraq needs Iran for rebuilding it. And very convenient Iraq can serve as an import platform for Iran. There are sanctions out there.

[Avirahim]

06:57 PM on 10/27/2010

Everyone is missing the obvious, this is right before elections in the U.S., Karzai is playing in U.S. domestic politics.

Don't fool yourself into thinking big money doesn't own this and every country.

[MarcEdward]

03:07 PM on 10/28/2010

Any idea how I can get the government of Iran or the USA to hand me bags of money?
I want some of that action!

[Libertarian09]

01:41 AM on 10/27/2010

Did anyone think that Karzai's loyalty to us extended beyond what we could do for him? I guess some of us thought the Iraq insurgents would still be our friends after we stopped paying them to be as well. Karzai is not the "only game in town", he is the "corporate game in town" and as we have seen the corporations owes loyalty to no nation, no people but only unto itself and the ever precious bottom line.