Pat Dollard

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KABUL – President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama’s special envoy said Sunday that Afghan officials will take part in a strategic U.S. review of the Afghanistan war, a hint of U.S.-Afghan cooperation in an otherwise awkward joint appearance.

Obama has said turning around the war in Afghanistan is one of his top priorities, but after almost four weeks in office he has yet to speak with the Afghan leader.

Instead, Karzai met with envoy Richard Holbrooke, and the two appeared together to announce the Afghan government’s participation in a U.S. review that will in large part determine how the war is fought. The decision, Holbrooke said, came at Karzai’s request in a letter to Obama.

Karzai acknowledged in an interview Friday that he has yet to speak with Obama, a clear signal from America’s leader of Karzai’s standing, given the fact the U.S. has 33,000 troops in the country and is contemplating sending up to 30,000 more.

That undercurrent hung over the first high-level U.S.-Afghan meeting since the inauguration and was perhaps one reason Karzai’s shoulders appeared heavy and his mood lifeless.

In an interview later Sunday with Afghanistan’s Tolo TV, Holbrooke was asked about the Karzai-Obama relationship. He said friends often disagree: “I don’t see the issue.”

“President Karzai is the democratically elected president of this country, and we respect that,” Holbrooke said. “And I deal with them, as I just did, without any friction, with honest discussions. There was no problem, no animosity, and President Karzai himself went out of his way to be gracious and supportive to our delegation.”

Earlier Sunday, only minutes before the joint appearance, there was a literal shuffling of chairs, podiums and personalities at Karzai’s presidential palace. Though the event was advertised as a news conference, Afghan officials decided at the last minute there would be no questions, lest Karzai face a hostile query.

With Karzai seeking re-election later this year, the Obama administration must decide how much overt support to give him—or whether to seek another partner.

Obama said last Monday that Afghanistan’s government seems “very detached from what’s going on in the surrounding community,” a clear jab at Karzai. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently called Afghanistan a “narco-state.”

Karzai aides hoped the Holbrooke event would offer a change of direction. “We really want this to go well,” one aide said privately beforehand.

Under former President George W. Bush, Karzai had frequent and close contact with Washington. But that has changed since Obama took office. Meanwhile, Karzai has shown increasing anger over civilian casualties, making public demands that have rubbed some U.S. officials the wrong way.

Karzai mentioned civilian casualties Sunday only briefly, saying he hopes a new U.S. policy to include more Afghans on U.S. missions will cut down on mistaken killings. He also said he hoped it would “prevent nighttime raids.” Overnight raids by elite Special Operations Forces cause many of the civilian deaths, but the agreement made no mention that such missions would end.

On Friday, ahead of Holbrooke’s visit, Karzai was asked in an al-Jazeera interview if there was a crisis between Afghanistan and the U.S. His response: “Yes, yes there is.”

The U.S. envoy’s arrival marked the first public contact between Karzai—and it was not a smooth rollout.

Karzai and Holbrooke first met Saturday evening for discussions and dinner. Photographers were permitted but neither official made comments. The palace said it would release a statement later that night.

But sometime around 10 p.m., the palace announced a previously unscheduled joint appearance the next morning.

At the palace early Sunday, officials set up two podiums where Holbrooke and Karzai were to stand. But only 15 minutes before the two appeared, officials took down the podiums, swept aside journalists’ chairs and set up a long table.

At the end of that table sat Karzai, Holbrooke and Afghan Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangin Spanta, who remained silent during the 13-minute event. The possible message to Holbrooke: The U.S. envoy would not appear at Karzai’s side as an equal.

Journalists had been told Karzai and Holbrooke would answer two questions. But after Karzai aides canvassed the room to see what journalists wanted to ask, reporters were told that no questions would be allowed.

“These reporters are doing very bad things. We are not answering their questions,” Karzai told the assembled journalists.

Mohammad Qassim Akhgar, a political columnist and the editor-in-chief of the independent Afghan newspaper Charagh, or “Light,” noted the change.

“Clearly we can see there are some problems with relations between Afghanistan and America,” said Akhgar. “There was fear that if there are tough questions, Holbrooke might say something which would not be in the interest of Karzai.”

Holbrooke, who traveled to India late Sunday, told Tolo TV that Pakistan would also send a strategic review team to Washington. The U.S. envoy said the two countries together make up one of the most critical areas in the world and he stressed the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan.

“An area where the border is disputed … and on both sides of which lie terrorists and political movements that threaten democracy in Afghanistan, stability in Pakistan and the security of the United States, because that is where 9/11 was planned,” Holbrooke said. “What could be more clear cut than that.”