Reporting from Washington — As they prepare to roll out a new Afghanistan policy to a skeptical U.S. audience, Obama administration officials are starting to replace their grim public assessments of the battered country with praise for the skills and idealism of its officials and its progress in important areas.
The message is aimed in part, officials say, at trying to build domestic support for a troop increase that President Obama is expected to announce Tuesday. Obama's decision comes at a time when most Americans have turned against the mission, and some Democratic leaders in Congress have concluded that it is hopeless.
Officials also would like to strengthen support for the mission in Europe, where the administration is lobbying NATO allies for thousands more combat troops -- but faces strong resistance. And experts say the new message also reflects the recognition that, no matter how heavily they have criticized Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the weakness and inefficiency of his government, Western officials need him.
The United States is developing a set of benchmarks to ensure that Karzai fights corruption and inefficiency, instituting a "monitoring and verification" system to determine whether ministries and agencies are worthy of receiving direct U.S. aid.
But while keeping pressure on Karzai, who won reelection to a second five-year term this year in a tainted vote, officials now are emphasizing Afghanistan's economic potential, its progress in education and even its anti-corruption efforts.
"The picture in Afghanistan is much more positive than we often give it credit for," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a visit this month to Kabul, the capital.
The rosier assertions carry a political risk. If the public concludes that they are unrealistic, it could cost Obama and his team credibility on Afghanistan. Former President George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his claims of steady progress in Iraq during the most violent days of its insurgency.
Obama's administration often blames the Bush White House for starving the Afghanistan mission of resources as it waged a questionable war in Iraq. But once Obama expands the Afghanistan effort, he will assume greater responsibility for the war and will have more reason to defend its results.
