Does Afghanistan really need James Carville?

Former Afghan finance minister Ashraf Ghani has apparently retained the services of famed Democratic party strategist James Carville in his bid to unseat President Hamid Karzai. The ragin’ cajun was typically circumspect in his comments:

“This is probably the most important election held in the world in a long time,” Carville told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late Tuesday. “This is probably the most interesting project I have ever worked in my life.”

I’m not sure how Carville defines “a long time,” but I seem to remember an election last year that was pretty darn important. 

Anyway, Carville’s getting some questions about whether he cleared this with the Obama administration, but working abroad is nothing new for Carville who has worked in elections in over 18 countries.

I think the bigger question is what exactly Ghani — currently polling between 2 and 4 percent of the vote — thinks he’s going to get out of Carville. Brilliant as he may be (though is recent track record isn’t exactly stellar) does Carville really know the first thing about campaigning in Afghanistan? This is a deeply Islamic country in the grips of a massive insurgency where two-thirds of the population is illiterate — are Carville’s years of experience in the Iowa caucasus really going to come in handy?

Perhaps Ghani is hoping that the veteran Clintonite has some pull in Obama’s state department. But given Ghani’s already sterling Washington pedigree — he’s worked for the World Bank, founded the D.C.-based Institute for State Effectiveness, and was a U.S. citizen for years until starting his campaign — his energies might be better spent winning over Kandahar rather than Foggy Bottom.

Getty Images for Meet the Press