[marron]

Before we came into the picture, Afghanistan was a battleground between the Talibs, backed by Pakistan and the arab world, versus the Northern Alliance backed by the Russians and Iran.

We have introduced another element to the earlier struggle, but as we start to head toward the exit, the forces on the ground will start making new alliances which may look a lot like the old alliances. Karzai has to look ahead to the post-US Afghanistan. If we’re not staying, what do you think he’s going to do.

[Captain Kirk]

Karzai’s regime was pretty much pro-Iran from the beginning. The Iranians never liked the Taliban. In addition to the cleansing of half of Iraq’s Christian population and the enshrinement of Shi’ite law in Iraq’s constitution, a chief result of this war was to create two Iran-friendly regimes on Iran’s western and eastern borders.

[FARS]

Nothing compared to some massive garbage type trucks which scraped through one of the palace arched gates - needing removal of the heavy duty up-swinging security pole installed in front of the entry.

They contained tons of currency provided to Karzai by the USA!

[FreedomPoster]

That nails it.

[TheThinker]

We have introduced another element to the earlier struggle, but as we start to head toward the exit, the forces on the ground will start making new alliances which may look a lot like the old alliances. Karzai has to look ahead to the post-US Afghanistan. If we’re not staying, what do you think he’s going to do.

He's going to play Realpolitik just like everybody else in the region.