How much more American blood and treasure are we going to expend propping up Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s increasingly corrupt government?

“After his brazen bid to steal his re-election, Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, swore that he would do better — and the Obama administration swore it would ensure that he did. He hasn’t. It didn’t.

Mr. Karzai’s latest travesty: Issuing a presidential decree to take total control of the country’s electoral watchdog commission. Yes, that is the same commission that exposed widespread fraud in the 2009 vote.

The Electoral Complaints Commission adjudicates violations and will play an important role in the September vote for a new Parliament. By law, it has five members: three non-Afghans appointed by the United Nations and two Afghans, one named by the Supreme Court and one by a human rights commission. Mr. Karzai will now be able to appoint all five members.”

At a time when American, NATO and Afghan troops are putting their lives on the line to battle the Taliban, Mr. Karzai seems interested only in his own political power. That is hugely destructive. Mr. Karzai’s failure to build a credible, honest and even minimally effective government is the Taliban’s No. 1 recruiting tool.

Bring. Them. Home.