Q & A w/Amb Wolliam Wood, Afghanistan

Q & A with William Wood, U.S. Ambassador To Afghanistan

Chicago Tribune
February 15, 2009
By Kim Barker

KABUL — William Wood has been the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan since April 2007. It has been a period of such deterioration in security that President Barack Obama has called for a new U.S. strategy and a doubling of American forces deployed here. Obama's special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday to discuss the plan. On the eve of Holbrooke's trip, Tribune correspondent Kim Barker sat down with Wood to talk about the Taliban insurgency, civilian casualties blamed on the U.S. and Karzai's troubled rule. Following are edited excerpts:

Q: How long does the international community need to be here?

A: I can't give you a timeline, but it's clearly not forever. It wasn't really until 2006 and 2007 that international forces were here in real strength. So, although it seems as though forces have been here longer, the fight for security in Afghanistan is only about 2 years old. And frankly, some of the disagreements we're having about how to do that have to do with the fact that it's only 2 years old. I think it will be worked out. I think the increased deployments and the growth of the Afghan security forces will turn the tide. I am optimistic, but I can't give you a date.

Q: Why do you think Afghans feel so much less secure now than they did a year ago?

A: This society that has been so devastated by 30 years of turmoil, it's exhausted. Its traditional leadership structures are exhausted. And its institutional structures still have not taken deep root. And the people in the communities are tired. Into this fragile situation, I think that both the Taliban and criminal elements and warlords who accumulated power during the bad years continue to operate and perhaps even are increasing their operations. And neither the government nor its international supporters have yet found a way to respond to those threats at the local and community level. I think we will.

Q: What do you think about the level of participation of NATO here?

A: Just on simple numbers, what NATO said was necessary has never been provided. So I think that there's plenty of room for additional contribution. The United States is providing additional forces, and I am very sure that other members of the coalition will also be providing additional forces in the course of 2009.

Q: What do you think of President Hamid Karzai's public criticism of civilian casualties, especially toward the U.S.?

A: Well, of course we agree with it—that civilian casualties are horrible. We are confident that he understands that we're upset by them too. We're here to protect Afghan citizens. At the same time ... Taliban infiltration into communities puts them in communities. It is the Taliban that is intimidating, abusing, terrorizing and attacking the people of Afghanistan as part of its conscious, chosen strategy. It is true for instance that some night raids have resulted in civilian casualties. It is also true that those night raids have reduced the number of homemade bombs killing Afghan civilians.

Q: What do you think about how Karzai's doing and his relationship with the U.S.?

A: It's a complicated, intense relationship. We've seen some actions against corrupt officials lately, we're seeing real improvements in the police, the army is doing well, the economy is growing, gross domestic product per capita has more than doubled since 2001. There are more schools, there are more clinics, there are all of these things, and relations with Pakistan are improving. That does not mean that anyone is satisfied. We all want it to be going better.

Q: What do you think of President Karzai as a leader, all the challenges he's faced and the pressure he's been under?

A: He faces an array of problems when he gets up every morning that are extraordinary. Afghanistan is poor by the standards of the poorest nation. The Taliban and the mujahedeen did no training, so the last trained officials in Afghanistan were trained by the Soviets a long time ago in a system that really didn't work very well and was characterized by its centralization in a country that desperately needs decentralization.

I think he works very hard. I think that like all of us, he has made some very good decisions, and I think, like all of us, not all of his decisions have been very good.