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Oct 30, 2003 With all eyes turned to Iraq(obsessively so it seems) I think a little attention is due to what is going on in Afghanistan. So what is going on there? Well that depends on your outlook, and where you get your infrmation. If you get your information from e-ariana.com a website with news from Afghanistan you will be convinced that we have blown it and Afghanistan is in worse shape now than it has ever been and will only get worse. If you listen to Hamid Karzai's speeches you will leave with the impression that within 5 years Afghanistan will replace Japan as the economic power in Asia. The truth has to lie somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. So there are problems in Afghanistan. What are they? Well let's see. 1) Warlords control much of the country. This is indeed a serious problem. Men like Ismail Khan and General Dostum and Atta Mohammed not to mention many others have private armies and carve up the country into their own personal fiefdoms. Many feel that there is no alternative to the warlords and that they have to be tolerated for now to fight remnants of the taliban and for stability. Better to keep them happy than have them fight again. However, there are some positive signs in this area. Prescence of American troops keeps the warlords from fighting each other for the most part and some of the militias have begun to diasrm. President Karzai has also started to remove warlords from their military positions. Still a long way to go though. 2) Womens rights are still virtually non exsistent. Well this is easy to explain. There have NEVER been womens rights in Afghanistan. Do we think we can create 21st century rights for women in a country that has never had them? Of course women should be allowed to work and not be beaten for refusing to wear burqas. But to expect a country like Afghanistan to see women as equals is a joke. 3)Poppy production in Afghansitan is going at an incredible rate. True. How do we stop that? Give the farmers something better to produce. Create harsh penalties for those caught growing or transporting poppy. And use afghan soldiers to attack poppy production. 4)The Government has no authority outside Kabul. Again point. That is a problem because the warlord control everything else. If NATO would get off its carcass and send soldiers into other cities that wouldn't be the case. Another point along these lines is that the people in the countryside ignore the government and do what they want. Well, I am no expert on Afghan history but it has always been that way. Governmental authority has always been confined to major cities and provincal capitols while the country does pretty much what it feels like. 5) Reconstruction is going slowly or not at all. Valid point. Now I don't know what reconstruction projects are going on throughout the country. I can't find that kind of information.(if someone can point me to a source for a total list of afghan reconstruction projects I would be grateful)However schools have been built, wells have been dug, roads have been improved, (a ride from Kandahar to Kabul takes 10 hours, it used to take 2 days) Now keep in mind Afghanistan had no infrastructure. So progress, however slight, has been made. Reconstruction has been measured by the construction of the ringroad which connects afghanistans major cities. This has yet to see any major work as far as I can find out. Our soldiers are still fighting there. Not as severely in Iraq, yet the jihadists want us out of Afghanistan to. There you are a fair look, warts and all at the forgotten battlefield. Keep in mind I am not pollyana, I am not an optimist by nature believing that everything is naturally going to get better. Afghanistan could still fail, so we need to be vigilant so it doesn't become a terrorist camp again. But I think if one looks at the situation empirically one sees that we are on the right path even if we have a long way to go. ------------ Email Craig Chamberlain: craig_chamberlain@hotmail.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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