An Afghan escape hatch for Obama?

As philosopher Yogi Berra once said, if you come to a fork in the road, take it. And as President Barack Obama approaches an announcement tonight (Wednesday) on how he will go forward in Afghanistan, he is coming to just such a fork -- whether to press on with the counterinsurgency strategy against the Taliban, or pivot more heavily to the original rationale of rooting out al-Qaida.

Thanks in a way to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, President Obama has a veiled invitation -- or at least a bluff -- to choose the latter, and to start more firmly down the road to getting out of a war that has become more nation-building than anti-terrorism.

Karzai, in the wake of NATO air attacks on Afghan residential areas, recently warned he would take "unilateral action" if they didn't end. "If they continue their attacks on our houses," he declared, "then their presence will change from a force that is fighting against terrorism to a force that is fighting against the people of Afghanistan. And, in that case, history shows what Afghans do with trespassers and with occupiers."

This characterization of the American and other NATO allies in the country as "occupiers" drew an unusually sharp rebuke from the departing U.S. ambassador there, Karl Eikenberry.

"When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost -- in terms of life and treasure -- hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people," he said, "my people in turn are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here. ... When we hear ourselves being called occupiers and worse, and our generous aid programs dismissed as totally ineffective and the source of all corruption, our pride is offended and we begin to lose our inspiration to carry on."

Eikenberry conceded that U.S. lack of familiarity with Afghan culture, customs and language has contributed to mistakes made. But, he said, "over the course of time here, our learning curve has been steep. That is because Afghanistan's political, social and economic situation is complex. We do not speak your language and are far from home. But in spite of our mistakes, we are good people whose aim is to help improve our mutual security."

Karzai's description of the U.S. and NATO force as "occupiers," however, would not be taken well by them, he said. "Mothers and fathers of fallen soldiers, spouses of soldiers who have lost arms and legs, children of those who lost their lives in your country, they ask themselves about the meaning of their loved one's sacrifice," he said. "When I hear some of your leaders call us occupiers, I cannot look these mourning parents, mourning spouses and mourning children in the eye and give them a comforting reply."

In so saying Eikenberry, a retired Army general, broke with the customary diplomatic practice of turning the other cheek to foreign criticisms. It seems unlikely he would have issued his rebuke to Karzai without the approval of the State Department and President Obama himself. U.S. officials have long been critical of the Afghan president over corruption and lack of cooperation in his regime.

The exchange came as Obama was winding down his assessment of the progress or lack thereof of the 30,000 American troop surge he agreed to in late 2009. A condition of acquiescing to the U.S. generals' pressure for the surge was that some withdrawal would start next month. The president has stuck to that caveat as antiwar Democrats and some Republicans have called for more than a token pullout, and as polls increasingly show voters think the Afghanistan involvement in nation building was a mistake.

Obama's decision on reducing the original American surge force also comes at a time both parties have stepped up their clamor for him to seek congressional authorization to continue the limited U.S. involvement in Libya in compliance with the War Powers Act, or to end it.

As long as American forces remain in harm's way in Afghanistan and to a lesser degree in Libya, however, Congress seems unlikely to take any abrupt action yet to force the president's hand on either front.

Columnist Jules Witcover's latest book is Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption." You can respond to this column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.