During a press conference President Hamid Karzai responded to the WikiLeaks document dump.
He took a hard line on Pakistan, though in the language of diplomatic speak. Echoing U.S. Congressional leaders Karzai spoke out against at least one of Afghanistan’s neighbors:
A widely run Associated Press piece quotes him:
“The international community is here to fight terrorism, but there is danger elsewhere and they are not acting.”
Elsewhere is, squarely, Pakistan. Though claiming brotherhood with Pakistan, without specifically naming the country, he called on the international community to roll out against certain countries training and arming militias with interests antithetical to Afghanistan’s political and economic prosperity and national security.
The charges stand against Pakistani Ambassador Husain Haqqani’s defense of Pakistan’s moves against the Taliban. You can find more on Haqqani’s defense on Charlie Rose, here and here at the FPB Pakistan blog.
Perhaps, more germane to U.S domestic political interests, President Hamid Karzai has redoubled on his blase views on the WikiLeaks revelations.
“Speaking in Kabul on Thursday, the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, called the disclosure of the names of Afghans who had cooperated with NATO and American forces “extremely irresponsible and shocking.”
“Whether those individuals acted legitimately or illegitimately in providing information to the NATO forces, their lives will be in danger now,” said Mr. Karzai, who spoke at a press conference just after he said he discussed the issue with his advisors. “Therefore we consider that extremely irresponsible and an act that one cannot overlook.”
Could it be that he’s come around to the view that the U.S will now begin to peg funding and asset allocation based on the government of Pakistan’s results on the ground? In that case, he’d best hitch his ride to that rambling wagon.
But there’s a broader security issue here that continues to be consequential to the U.S. and ISAF effort. Karzai might well realize that far from relaying known information, the Leaks could create road blocks for the U.S-Afghan alliance. Afghans might cease to cooperate with the U.S. and NATO forces; the multinational intervening force might draw out–too rapidly–leaving Karzai alone to fend off the encroaching Taliban.
Though the New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel took pains to avoid printing names and places, WikiLeaks has done no such thing. Lives could be lost and the blame would rest of many shoulder’s including Julian Assange’s, the founder of WikiLeaks. Moreover given its recent stratospherically high profile, WikiLeaks could draw out other disgruntled U.S. officials to leak sensitive documents.
To head off this outcome, the U.S. Justice Department is looking through its options to prosecute Assange as a co-conspirator in revealing state secrets, in violation the 1917 Espionage Act. However, that road is fraught with risks and dead ends.
