SPY EYES

It would be impossible to overstate the challenges facing Afghanistan and the urgency of addressing them while American troops are still in the country. Instead of doing that, President Hamid Karzai is again conjuring up scapegoats and false alarms and diverting attention from what really matters.

For nearly a month, Mr. Karzai and his government have been railing against a report by the International Crisis Group, a respected organization based in Brussels and Washington that offers analysis on conflict resolution. On Monday, Mr. Karzai’s spokesman escalated the confrontation, saying the government was reassessing the group’s operations. He hinted it may be expelled from Afghanistan.

The report, titled “Afghanistan: the Long, Hard Road to the 2014 Transition,” describes the many obstacles to a fair presidential election, including an electoral process that is mired in confusion and political machinations. It also outlined potential events that could lead to civil war. While grim, the well-researched report was hardly a bombshell. Many other experts are also pessimistic as Afghanistan approaches the crucial 2014 election just as American forces are coming home. In September, a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace suggested the Taliban could retake control of large swaths of the country.

Some Afghan lawmakers and newspapers accused the International Crisis Group, and even Western news media, of espionage, interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and working behind the scenes to destroy the country. Such arguments are a convenient canard for governments seeking to discredit anyone who asks tough questions. But it is crucial for the Afghan people and the countries that have been fighting extremists there for a decade to understand the forces at work in Afghanistan and what is still required to put the nation on a stable and productive path.

During its decade in Afghanistan, the International Crisis Group has interviewed countless officials and citizens, and published more than two dozen reports. This is the first time any questions have been raised about its work. The threat to Afghanistan’s future is not those who point out the obvious problems. It is Mr. Karzai and others who have squandered so many opportunities and continue to perpetuate a corrupt system that cannot provide services and security for its people. .

Last week, the government-appointed Independent Election Commission finally set April 5, 2014, for the presidential election. Whether the election is judged fair enough to produce a broadly accepted successor to Mr. Karzai or repeats the fraudulent election process in 2009 depends on scores of other decisions that still must be made, including which state institution will be empowered to settle challenges to candidacies, how seats in Parliament will be allocated, and how polling places and ballot boxes can be secured. Mr. Karzai and his government will need to do a lot to prove that the conclusions of the International Crisis Group are wrong.