Wonder why Pres. Obama is down on Afghanistan Pres. Karzai. He denounces coalition bombings, but often refers to the Taliban as brothers.

Even before the election I was telling friends I questioned whether Obama really wanted Afghanistan to be his war as Iraq was President Bush's war.

From The Washington Post:

The additional 17,000 troops the Obama administration is preparing to send to Afghanistan will face both an aggressive, well-armed Taliban insurgency and an unarmed but equally daunting foe: public opinion.

The public disillusionment has several causes, observers said. One is that people see the security situation worsening as the number of foreign troops increases and figure that there must be a connection. Another is that Afghan political leaders, especially President Hamid Karzai, have vehemently denounced coalition bombings that have killed civilians but have been far less outspoken in criticizing Taliban attacks; Karzai often refers to the Taliban as brothers.