In the deadliest day for the US military in over a year, eight American soldiers were killed in attacks on US outposts in Afghanistan on Saturday. The daytime attacks, which were carried out by insurgents in the east of the country, immediately prompted calls for US President Barack Obama to take decisive action on the question of future troop deployment in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is being urged to expedite two meetings on military strategy in the region, which are scheduled for this week, or risk appearing hesitant. The former commander of the US central command, Anthony Zinni, warned the administration ‘to be careful how long this goes on. It could be seen as being indecisive, unable to make a decision.'
The toD verdict: Evidently, Barack Obama is weighing his options in Afghanistan carefully, conscious of the potentially disastrous ramifications, both militarily and politically, of failing to arrive at a strategy that will allow the United States to credibly claim victory in the country. Obama's reluctance to commit to General Stanley McChrystal's demands for 40,000 reinforcements stems from his desire not to invest his personal political capital, and his nation's prestige, in an ever deteriorating security situation.
The decision he makes this week will be coloured by the recent deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan as well as increased violence in Pakistan, marked today by the bombing of the United Nations World Food Program office in Islamabad. The US stands at a military crossroads, but Obama must also consider the potential impact of recommitting the US to an increasingly unpopular war, and the ramifications that such a decision will have on his ability to pursue his domestic political agenda.
Meanwhile, reports continue to emerge from Afghanistan questioning the validity of recent national elections. Peter Galbraith, who was deputy head chief of the UN mission in Afghanistan until he was fired amid a public spat with his boss, Kai Eide, last week, criticized the United Nations for downplaying the level of voter fraud. In a letter published in the Washington Post on Sunday, Galbraith reveals that his dismissal was due to his insistence that the United Nations reveal the extent of the fraud in the recent elections, which in some regions resulted in up to ten times as many votes being recorded as votes actually cast. Galbraith claimed the discrediting of the election amounted to the Taliban's ‘greatest strategic victory in eight years of fighting the United States and its Afghan partners.'
If Galbraith's estimation that almost one-third of votes counted in the election were fraudulently cast, Karzai's rightful election as president of the country is called into serious question. Preliminary results reveal that Karzai retained only 55% of the vote, only five points clear of the need for a second round run off. While the implications of such accusations, if proved or seen to be correct, could be disastrous, Galbraith argues it is nevertheless important that the extent of electoral fraud be exposed. ‘President Obama needs a legitimate Afghan partner to make any new strategy for the country work', he said, warning ‘the extensive fraud that took place on August 20 virtually guarantees that a government emerging from the tainted vote will not be credible with many Afghans.'
Iran agrees to inspection of nuclear plant
Iran has agreed to open the doors of its previously undisclosed second uranium enrichment plant at Qom to United Nations inspectors. The outgoing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, claimed the concession was part of a change from "conspiracy" to "cooperation" as the basis for relations with the West. El Baradei announced the agreement after talks in Tehran on Sunday, and indicated that he was upbeat about the prospects of a diplomatic resolution to the long-standing dispute over Iranian nuclear capabilities.
After talks with the United Nations Security Council Permanent members and Germany last week, Iran agreed to open the doors of its Qom facility to inspectors, although refused to do so within the two-week deadline requested. Consequently, some commentators do not share El Baradei's optimism. David Albright, a former weapons inspector and president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, warned ‘it was not good that the inspection has taken so long.'
China to strengthen bonds with North Korea
China and North Korea renewed their courtship on Sunday when Chinese Premier Wen Jin Bao and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il met at the start of a visit by the Chinese delegation to North Korea. The trip, intended to bolster bilateral relations between the two communist neighbours, marks 50 years since the countries established formal ties on 6 October 1949. Both Chinese and North Korean delegates made no mention of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, instead focusing on a relationship that was, in the words of China's congratulatory message to Pyongyang, ‘in keeping with the fundamental interests and shared wishes of both countries' people'. The Chinese state visit is also in keeping with an attitude that toughened sanctions against North Korea are futile and that renewed negotiations are the only solution to the problems posed by the expanding nuclear arsenal of the rogue state.
