Afghanistan: Why Karzai Doesn't Trust America --- He's a lousy ally - but the U.S. has done a lot to make him worse. --- “the White House appears increasingly willing to abandon plans for a long-term, costly partnership with Afghanistan. Despite the Pentagon’s pleas for patience, much of the rest of the administration is fed up with Karzai and sees Afghanistan as a fading priority amid far more ominous threats elsewhere in the world.” --- The strained communications have fed Karzai’s suspicion that the Obama administration, in its rush to end the longest war in U.S. history, is willing to go over his head and make a separate peace with Pakistan and its Taliban allies. This notion animated several events in the last few months. The first is the flap this past summer over the opening of a Taliban representative office in Doha, which was suppose to facilitate diplomatic talks on a political settlement in Afghanistan. Washington has reportedly worked closely with Pakistan on preparing the ground for talks with the Taliban but the sovereignty-minded Karzai felt he had been left out of the loop. --- One goes to war with the allies one has, to appropriate a now-famous Washington aphorism. And in truth, the disputatious Karzai has unnecessarily complicated the U.S. effort in Afghanistan. But the Obama administration’s own derelictions have also contributed much to the testiness. The White House would be wise to absorb this lesson as the endgame in that country approaches.