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'Afghanistan is Back to Square One'

Hamid Karzai's legitimacy as Afghanistan's president has been seriously damaged by the fraudulent election and the chaos that ensued, and the West is partly to blame, write German commentators. As they see it, Afghanistan's leader should now consider giving tribal leaders a greater stake in government.

After receiving warnings from his Western backers following the debacle over his re-election, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he wanted a more inclusive government and vowed to tackle corruption.

On Monday, Afghan election officials had cancelled a runoff election after Karzai's main rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew his candidacy, citing concerns that there would be a repeat of the fraud that marred the first round in August.

German media commentators say the West has no option but to work with Karzai, even though his legitimacy has been seriously damaged. They also think Karzai should consider boosting the role of powerful regional tribal leaders in the government.

Left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The chaos of recent weeks shows just how much international players, meaning the US and the United Nations, have lost control in Afghanistan. The first major mistake -- after many others in the runup to the election -- was to force Hamid Karzai into a runoff election. It was clear from the outset that nothing and no one could guarantee the security of this second round of the elections."

"In the meantime, the US has been criticizing Karzai more and more without knowing who to replace him with, and now it's complaining that there's no credible government. Everyone with even a little knowledge of Afghanistan knows that Abdullah, a Tajik, is as suitable to become president as Mickey Mouse."

"Conspiracy theorists already believe that it's impossible to have deliberately been so stupid and that the real reason for all of this is to convene a loya jirga (editor's note: a traditional Afghan council of elders), which could at last bring the Taliban into the government and permit the US to gradually withdraw from Afghanistan. Whatever the truth may be, there's no alternative to a loya jirga now if you want to produce a legitimate government. Eight years after the Taliban was driven out of Afghanistan, the country is back to square one."

Conservative Die Welt writes:

"To successfully fight the insurgents, one needs a reliable local partner who is accepted by a majority of the population. Karzai no longer meets these conditions properly. He has undermined the efforts of the West to establish some sort of democracy. The election was meant to give the Afghans a sense that they were helping to decide their own fate. Now, they've been shown that elections are just a veil for the old Afghan power-brokering system. The country has taken a step back. But now isn't the time to give up, as too much is at stake for the West. Karzai must be given clear conditions. If he's not a good democrat, he should at least become a good technocrat. If not, he could lose the support of the West."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"From the start, it was a mistake to rely solely on Karzai. A lot of power lies in the hands of the tribal leaders around the country, and they don't pay much attention to decisions made in Kabul. Afghanistan is not going to turn into an American-style democracy with a strong president just because Washington wants it to."

"Obama urgently needs a well-thought-out position on Afghanistan so that he can explain to his population why he should send in more troops. In the US and the West as a whole, backing for the mission is waning. The election chaos will make the Afghanistan fatigue even worse."

The left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:

"The manipulated presidential elections should show even the last remaining optimists that the plans to rebuild Afghanistan have failed. The international community should respond by giving the various ethnic groups more autonomy and involving them in the central government. "

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The international community is partly to blame for this political calamity. But it can't afford to waste its time on political navel-gazing now. It has to work with Karzai. Maybe they can get the state institutions to work a little better, and maybe they can persuade Karzai's opponents to join a government of national unity. But perhaps they should interfere as little as possible and leave it up to the Afghans to organize their own government. But, on one point, there must be no concessions -- our security."

David Crossland