Wanted: A Credible Iraqi President

By Michele Orecklin

As the U.S. struggles to install an able and acceptable government in Iraq, there seems to be a palpable longing for a figure like Hamid Karzai. Anointed by Washington, Karzai was named head of Afghanistan by a delegation of his countrymen soon after the fall of the Taliban. With the 24-member Iraqi Governing Council bickering to a standstill, the idea of a dominant Karzai-like leader in Baghdad is gaining widespread appeal. In an interview last week with a San Diego television station, Secretary of State Colin Powell seemed almost wistful: "We don't yet see somebody like the gentleman who took over in Afghanistan." In Iraq, such a gentleman might be hard to find.

Karzai, who in June 2002 was confirmed in his job by a tribal assembly called a loya jirga, was a royal chieftain from the majority Pashtun tribe who, with some U.S. arm twisting, was found acceptable by the minority Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. Having no army of his own, he was unthreatening to the country's warlords. With his fluent English, stoic bearing and good fashion sense, he seemed a comforting figure to the U.S. and the U.N. But as he nears the two-year mark on the job, the Karzai model is barely working for Karzai himself.

His reach barely extends past the front door of his Kabul office. The national army and the police force are still new and feeble. Most of his provincial governors are viewed as corrupt, and all are toothless in the face of regional warlords who rule life outside the capital. Far from appreciating the esteem that Karzai enjoys in the West, many Afghans see him as an American puppet. Most are either more loyal to or more frightened of the well-armed warlords.

Some of Karzai's troubles stem from conflicts with the U.S. He wants to build an infrastructure, disarm the warlords and stop drug trafficking, but the U.S., already distracted by Iraq, has focused on hunting down al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Yet despite this, both groups are making a resurgence. In the Zabul and Kunar provinces, governors have faced assassination attempts.

Some Afghans believe Karzai is too much a gentleman, failing to curb the excesses of the warlords within his own Cabinet. Like the Iraqis, Afghans are accustomed to strong men. --By Michele Orecklin. Reported by Tim McGirk/Islamabad

With reporting by Tim McGirk/Islamabad