Obama To Meet Afghan, Pakistani Leaders On Strategy

(July, 2008) Then Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other officials at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday. According to Mr. Karzai's spokesman, Mr. Obama and Karzai met for two hours and discussed issues of terrorism, corruption, and counternarcotics. The meeting is part of a larger foreign tour in which Obama is expected to meet with leaders in Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Germany, France, and Britain. (Presidential Palace/AP)

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama presents his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday amid growing U.S. concern that it is losing the war and neither is a reliable ally.

The White House meetings with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are likely to be cagey affairs -- both visitors have been heavily criticized by Obama's administration and are also wary of each other.

Equally, Obama's new strategy for defeating al Qaeda and Taliban militants operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan has not been universally welcomed in either country.

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My Comment: I must confess that I am not optimistic on this meeting. All three leaders talk about defeating the Taliban, but their actions fall far short.

President Obama does not give the commanders in the field the soldiers that they have requested. Afghan President Karzai has close family members implicated in Afghanistan's narco-trade and general corruption, and has allied himself to some brutal warlords. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari does not have the loyalty of the military and intelligence services .... and the recent battles against the Taliban have been both a political and military disaster.

To defeat the Taliban, we need leaders like this .... but alas (for now) this is not the case.