They both stole election victories.
Marcos, Suharto, they all started out good but turned rogue in the end.
Enters Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president who dresses like a male model, complete with cloak and all.
In late summer, it was revealed that in the most recent Afghan election more than a million votes were fraudulently obtained.
The Obama administration made no secret of its disgust. How to you consider sending tens of thousands of additional American troops to prop up a government regarded as illegitimate by many of its own people?
The answer was supposed to be a runoff election. But it was cancelled on November 2 after Abdullah Abdullah removed himself from the election, citing concerns about the legitimacy and independence of the Independent Election Commission.
In the meantime the Taliban has been snapping at the heels of the Afghans.
The United States has spent a quarter-trillion US dollars in the country, all the while talking about how its leaders should embrace lasting reforms. But Karzai doesn’t seem concerned that his family’s reputed links to corruption will threaten the legitimacy of his government. The White House is said to have sent mission after mission to teach good governance but to no avail.
Afghanistan today continues to be a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.