Does Hamid Karzai have a drug problem?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Maybe so, says Peter Galbraith, former U.N. envoy to Afghanistan:

In an interview on MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," Peter Galbraith described Karzai as "off-balance" and "emotional." Galbraith also called for President Barack Obama to vastly limit Karzai’s power to appoint officials within the war-torn country until he proves himself a reliable partner to the U.S.

"He's prone to tirades. He can be very emotional, act impulsively. In fact, some of the palace insiders say that he has a certain fondness for some of Afghanistan's most profitable exports," said Galbraith, in an apparent reference to opium or heroin.

When asked whether he meant Karzai has a substance abuse problem, Galbraith responded: "There are reports to that effect. But whatever the cause is, the reality is that he is -- he can be very emotional."

Well, it would explain, in part, his recent, well, instability, if I may put it nicely. (And, drugs or no drugs, he does seem to be immensely unreliable, and possibly not worth the investment. Is he just another would-be American puppet -- Iraq's Ahmed Chalabi comes instantly to mind, along with America's various favoured tyrants during the Cold War, many in Latin America -- who duplicitously goes his own way and undermines American interests?)

Laura Rozen has more.