Two rules for coalition building in Afghanistan

1. Don't kill your ally's kin:

A cousin of President Hamid Karzai was killed Thursday in southern Afghanistan during a raid by coalition forces, just after the president had said civilian casualties from the war were damaging relations with the United States.

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2011/03/coalition_raid_kills_cousin_of.html

2. Don't have allies allied to your enemy.

[Karzai's cousin] Yar Mohammad, 60, was shot in the head inside his home in Karzai's home village, Karz, just outside Kandahar city, Afghan officials said. A statement from U.S.-led coalition forces described him as the father of a Taliban leader and said he'd been shot after he was seen with an AK-47 assault rifle.

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2011/03/coalition_raid_kills_cousin_of.html

We're fighting the Taliban to prop up Karzai while Karzai's cousins are working for the Taliban.

Under those circumstances, the mission in Afghanistan is hopeless.