President Karzai unpopular? 72% of Aghans like him

Here’s more evidence that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is at least a little more popular than many commentators claim, and that maybe the United States already has done a lot of good for that long-oppressed land.

A BBC poll says the Afghans are fairly happy with their president and with the Americans helping them.

Afghans are much more likely than Americans to think their country is on the right track (70%, up from 40% last year). Afghans think much more highly of their President Karzai than Americans do of President Obama (72% approval). A whopping 90% prefer their current government over the Taliban, and 68% say they support the presence of American troops.

Excuse to surrender. I’m always wary of wartime reports that the elected government we’re allied with is “corrupt” or guilty of “tainted elections.” The corruption charge usually is not based on anything but a desire that the U.S. abandon a difficult fight for freedom.

Like Communist tyrants, the Taliban and al-Qaida are 100 percent corrupt, having never gained the consent of the people they seek to rule. You can’t point to a flaw in their elections because they don’t bother to hold elections.

Frank Warner

Comments

[Kevin]

But how does this help freedom in the world when you can still go to jail in Afghanistan for freeing yourself from that horrid religion known as islam?

It seems like we haven't helped those poor people at all.

[Frank Warner]

Hey, one step at a time.

Americans have sent people to jail for their color, nationality, sexual preference and, I'm sure, a few religion-related items. But we worked all that out democratically over 200 years.

We still struggle with controversies related to religion. I think the Afghans (and the Iraqis) deserve a generation or two to develop an understanding of tolerance. And when it looks as if they're way off track, we can point that out, too.