Obama's Unprecedented Afghanistan Faux Pas

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday he will not enter into peace talks with the Taliban unless the United States steps out of the negotiations. He also insisted the Taliban stop its violent attacks on the ground after it claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that killed four Americans. The Taliban said on Wednesday it was responsible for the attack on the Bagram Air Base in which four American troops were killed. American officials confirmed the base had come under attack by indirect fire - mortar or rocket - and that four US troops were killed. Karzai's strong response and the Taliban attack undercut hopes for the start of talks to end 12 years of war in Afghanistan. All this occurred just one day after the US and the Taliban said they would begin initial meetings in Qatar. Karzai had said Tuesday that he would send his High Peace Council to Qatar for talks but aides said he changed his mind after objecting to the way the announcement was handled, in particular the Taliban's use of its formal name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in opening an office in Doha. President Barack Obama had cautioned Tuesday that the peace talks with the Taliban would be neither quick nor easy but that their opening a political office in Doha was an "important first step toward reconciliation" between the Islamic militants and the government of Afghanistan. Karzai's High Peace Council had been expected to follow up with its own talks with the Taliban a few days later but it is now unclear whether that will happen. Shafiullah Nooristani, a member of the High Peace Council, told the AP that the use of the name violated agreements Karzai's government had made with the US and caused diplomatic issues for Afghanistan. He said negotiations with the Taliban should not make it seem as if they are a political entity like a parallel institution to the Afghan Embassy which is already there. "The agreement was that the office should open only - and only - for negotiations, not as a political entity," Nooristan said. But as of now, it is not clear that the Taliban will be forced to change the name they are using in Qatar. President Karzai also suspended on Wednesday - to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban - talks with the US on a new security deal meant to find ways to end the war. Karzai said negotiations with the US on which American and coalition security forces will remain in the country after 2014 have been put on hold. The two Afghan announcements were issued while Obama was trying to appease Karzai, with Obama telling reporters during a visit to Berlin that "ultimately we're going to need to see Afghans talking to Afghans." "But they've been fighting there for a long time" and mistrust is rampant, Obama said, explaining why he thinks it is important to pursue a parallel track toward reconciliation even as the fighting continues, and it would be up to the Afghan people whether that effort ultimately bears fruit. ~~~~~ It is one thing, dear readers, to lose a war by negotiating away the rights of the side you have been supporting. But it is quite another thing - and perhaps unprecedented - to actually forget to keep in place the public facade of pretending to fight for their rights even as you negotiate them away. It is the latest faux pas in the incompetent foreign affairs record of the Obama administration. It leaves yet another gaping hole in the already-riddled Middle East non-policy of President Obama. One has to wonder how many Obama follies the unstable and agitated region can take before it explodes into a thousand wars in the realization that nobody cares about saving it.