The CIA faced some embarrassment when it was revealed that the intelligence agency had been giving Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai bags of cash for favorable treatment. This revelation was embarrassing for a number of reasons. First, it confirmed reports that Hamid Karzai was running a corrupt government with facilitation by agents of the U.S. government. Second, it is pretty tragic for America to have to bribe the man it installed as president, whose life it protects on a daily basis. You might think this exposure of corrupt practices would lead to a cooling off of the previously secret nefarious activity – not so.

Empires are run using carrot and stick policies. The American Empire is no different. In Afghanistan the Taliban’s refusal to comply has gotten them the stick – drones, special forces teams, and all manner of things as punishment. President Karzai for acting as a U.S. puppet, has gotten some nice carrots. And like everything else in Afghanistan, you paid for it.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is pointing the finger at America for continued instability in his country. To America’s shock and dismay, Karzai claimed that the America and Taliban were colluding to continue the war beyond 2014 when US forces are set to withdraw by working together in series of recent bombings. His comments came as Chuck Hagel made his first visit to the country as Defense Secretary.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai ordered United States special forces to leave the Maidan Wardak province after reports of units engaging in the torture and disappearing of Afghan civilians.The order came on February 24 and was immediately followed by the US military rejecting the allegations.

Leaders in the province issued the order in response to Afghans working with US special forces who were allegedly responsible for the “disappearance of at least nine men and the murder of an Afghan university student.” But, on February 25, NATO spokesman German Gen. Gunter Katz said the “International Security Assistance Force found no evidence showing foreign forces were involved in abuses. Katz “did not comment on the Afghans allegedly linked to the Americans.” He added, ”We could not find evidence that would support these allegations.”

More than three years ago, I wrote here that Obama’s only real decision in Afghanistan was how to manage the United States’ inevitable defeat. Sure, he wound up announcing a “surge” of 30,000 troops, but it was clear to me that this was meant to serve the same purpose as George Bush’s similar 2007 gambit in Iraq: that is, postponing and camouflaging our surrender, rather than avoiding it.

The US has handed over the prison at Bagram Air Force base to Afghanistan, in the latest in a series of transitions to have the Afghans take control of their own security. The prison transfer was part of a bargain won months ago by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. However, hundreds of prisoners at the facility remain under US control.

NATO formally announced a new timeline for the winding down of troops in Afghanistan, agreeing to transfer responsibility for security to the Afghans by the summer of 2013, with the withdrawal of most troops timed for the end of 2014. This is a similar timeline to the exit of troops from Iraq, with a transfer [...]

It appears that the US is negotiating with two heads of state. There’s the Hamid Karzai who publicly lambasted the Americans as “demons,” accuses them of “Satanic acts,” and equates the presence of US forces with the Taliban. Then there’s the Karzai who, behind the scenes, pliantly offers permanent bases to the Americans.

Karzai has no support from even the political class in Kabul, and opposition lawmakers believe compellingly that they are being railroaded out of Parliament. Karzai’s remaining defenders claim that the opposition came into power through ballot-stuffing and other illegal means, which is quite something for backers of Hamid Karzai to say.

Doesn’t the drug-selling President’s announcement mean the surge worked and all the soldiers can come home now?