WASHINGTON – President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington this week will center on talks to help shape the U.S. commitment to his country after the bulk of American combat forces leave in two years, according to analysts.
Afghans worry about U.S. abandonment, fearing a repeat of history when the United States supported the mujahedin in their fight against the Soviets, then walked away after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
Repeating that history is "a perpetual worry of the Afghans," said David Barno, a retired Army three-star general at the Center for a New American Security.
The Soviet-backed Afghan government collapsed within a few years, and Afghanistan plunged into a bloody civil war in the 1990s that led to the Taliban's takeover in 1996.
Karzai has expressed a desire for additional U.S. help with finances and security beyond the date when most international combat troops are scheduled to depart, at the end of 2014. But the Obama administration is likely to respond to Karzai's wish list with a roster of its own concerns.
Karzai will need to convince Washington of his commitment to good government and the rule of law, said Mark Jacobson, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund and former deputy NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan.
The talks will not center only on "a list of demands and wishes," said Said Jawad, a former Afghanistan ambassador to the United States
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