Was just listening to
Vanni Cappelli on Radio Times discussing the situation in Afghanistan. He summed up the situation there rather succintly: Karzi is the Mayor of Kabul, the national government isn't legitimate because it doesn't have a monopoly on legitimate use of violence, and the people tolerated the American invasion because they understood the situation and didn't much love the Taliban, but the implicit contract was that the Americans would rebuild the country after showing it up but they didn't.
