Karzai's Role a Growing Issue in U.S.-Afghan Relations, Senator Says

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Thursday that questions about the legitimacy of Afghan President Hamid Karzai are a major problem for the Obama administration as it debates a new Afghanistan strategy.

Levin, a leading skeptic of proposals to send more U.S. combat forces to Afghanistan, also estimated that about 3,000 to 4,000 additional U.S. military trainers would be needed to accelerate and expand the growth of the Afghan army and police forces. That figure is similar to the estimate of 2,000 to 4,000 military trainers put forward earlier by Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Levin (D-Mich.) said that expediting the building of Afghan forces, providing them with additional equipment, and speeding reconciliation efforts with the Taliban are among several ways the administration can demonstrate "resolve" on Afghanistan -- short of sending thousands more U.S. combat forces.

Asked about the image and legitimacy of Karzai, Levin said uncertainty over whether the United States will have a solid partner in the Afghanistan leadership is "one of the really great problems that we have to solve."

He said he was not sure, in the wake of the flawed Afghan presidential election, whether the United States can expect to have an effective ally in Karzai. "It adds huge complexity to any course of action," Levin said in a breakfast with newspaper reporters hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Levin said he believed that President Obama hoped to know the outcome of the election before deciding on a strategy for Afghanistan. "There is an additional benefit to deliberation, which is that you might know by the time you have to make up your mind," he said.