Ex-ambassador warns of disintegrating Afghanistan

NEW YORK – Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations, is growing increasingly concerned over the deteriorating situation in the Afghan theater.

"The (recent presidential) elections introduced a new complication, given the question about the legitimacy of the elections, the amount of (alleged) fraud being charged," he said. "There is a danger that the elections could add to the complications by introducing new (political) fault lines in the country."

In an exclusive interview, the former White House troubleshooter sees a difficult road ahead for the Obama administration:

"I think the key challenge for the (Obama) administration is whether it will have enough (military) forces to carry out an effective counter-insurgency strategy. How does it address the sanctuary problem, the use of Pakistan by the Taliban?"

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He added:

"For success there, there is a need for a government that is not broadly questioned in terms of its legitimacy. In other words, one needs a government that is broadly legitimate. One that is accepted not only by the Afghans, but by the international community."

The question of legitimacy rose front and center recently when Afghan President Hamid Karzai snubbed the White House by abruptly canceling a visit to the 2009 United Nations General Assembly last month.

It was during the New York trip that U.S. officials hoped to be able to "privately" confer with Karzai and his entourage.

The meeting never came off.

Khalilzad said he sees a "growing" political rift between the two governments:

"I am concerned about that. This is something that has been happening for the last several months. Relations between the two have become more difficult and in order to succeed in Afghanistan, there is a need for a good partnership between the United States and Afghanistan. Without such partnership, success will be very difficult."

Karzai, the veteran Afghan politician who was declared the winner in a hotly contested re-election bid, has been under increasing pressure from Washington to address repeated charges of widespread corruption in his government.

Many of those charges center on Karzai's brother Mahmoud, who has allegedly been involved in influence peddling.

Khalilzad, who was first a "presidential envoy" shortly after the 2001 U.S. invasion, became ambassador in 2003 and was a key figure in elections that saw Karzai become president in 2004.

While Khalilzad has deflected accusations that he "turned his back" on government corruption during his tenure in Kabul, he does admit the Bush administration did make military mistakes:

"The biggest problems were two-fold: One was internal and two dimensional. One is the size of the Afghan security forces, I think it was a mistake to keep that number small given the size of Afghanistan and the need for population protection to successfully combat an insurgency strategy," he said.

"Externally, the most important factor has been the sanctuary for the Taliban. I think we did not pay attention to it for some time and that allowed the Taliban to regroup. And, that has been an important factor."

The former ambassador also insists NATO allies bear significant responsibility for the worsening military conditions:

"'The others are not doing what they need to do ... the challenge of Afghanistan is a challenge for the entire world," he said. "The issue of extremism and terrorism is a defining challenge of our time. The challenge for the diplomacy of the United States is how to get others do their fair share."