A Pair of Allies, Self-Destructing

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The incident will further undermine the international community's dwindling confidence in Karzai, who was installed with U.S. support after the 2001 invasion. Zalmay Khalilzad, the current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was a key figure in that political process. Khalilzad's closeness to Karzai may explain why he offered little support to Ashdown in contacts at the United Nations while other U.S. officials were pushing hard to save the nomination, according to administration reports.

Khalilzad came under White House fire last week for sitting down beside the Iranian foreign minister at a Davos panel instead of perhaps driving a stake through that worthy's heart. The State Department learned of this outrage only when referred to film appearing on YouTube. That's farce. Free-lancing on the Ashdown appointment was tragedy.

Pakistan's Musharraf was also basking in the Davos glow as part of an interminable tour of Europe even while extremists extended their control in Pakistan's badlands. He is finding it inconvenient now to be seen as America's collaborator in the war on global terrorism, forbidding Washington to pursue that fight kinetically in the big stretches of Pakistan that provide sanctuary for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The United States still has a chance to save Karzai and Musharraf from the extremists. Washington has no chance, however, of saving them from themselves. That task belongs to them.

jimhoagland@washpost.com