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After almost ten years of  U.S.  involvement in Afghanistan,  the American people have almost nothing to show for their spent treasure,  spilled blood, and thousands of disabled sons and daughters.  Not only is the war against  the Taliban insurgents going badly, but the entire Afghan economy has become totally dependent on the billions of dollars of military spending, combined with billions more in civilian economic assistance.   In fact, The World Bank has estimated that 97 percent of Afghanistan’s anemic economic output is from spending related to the international military and civilian presence.  If that’s not the very definition of co-dependency, then I don’t know what is.

Over two years ago the Obama Administration conducted a review of the multi-billion dollar aid program to Afghanistan,  and concluded it was a “heartbreaking” failure.   Although the Administration promised to make significant changes in the way it doled out American taxpayer’s money to corrupt Afghani government officials, it actually poured even larger sums of money into projects that will be  impossible for the Afghani people to maintain over the long term.   Things are so bad that the bipartisan Congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting in Afghanistan said in a report this month that “overly ambitious proposals, incomplete analysis, poor planning, weak coordination and inadequate follow-through by federal officials” risked wasting billions more.  The sad fact is that Afghanistan’s mostly uneducated and poverty-stricken  population is scattered across a lawless, tribal landscape, and have no way to benefit directly from American aid.   The Obama Administration soon learned that the only way to maintain “friendly” relations with the corrupt Afghanistan government (i.e. Hamid Karzai) was to pump billions of dollars into the pockets of officials, and hope that some small amounts would actually provide grass root improvements for the people.   In essence, American economic aid to Afghanistan is nothing more than bribery money paid for the “privilege” of using the country as a battleground to fight the specter of “global terrorism.

By almost any measuring stick the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has been a costly failure for everyone other than the corrupt politicians surrounding Hamid Karzai in his  fortress city of Kabul.  To make matters even worse, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry concluded that the Afghanistan economy is so dependent on military-related spending that it will almost certainly fall into a deep economic depression when U.S. forces leave in 2014.  I suppose that Senator Kerry is referring to the elite few in the Karzai government, since most of the population of Afghanistan have been in a deep depression for the last 500 years.  This is not likely to change any time soon.

As the American Congress struggles to find ways to save the country from financial collapse due to decades of irresponsible deficit spending, it is inconceivable that billions of American tax dollars continue to flow into Afghanistan.   It is equally inconceivable that Congressional Republicans are more willing to cut off the flow of Medicare dollars to American senior citizens, rather than cut off the flow of foreign aid dollars to the government of Hamid Karzai.   Over the the next seventeen months, leading up to the 2012 elections, the American people will spend a lot of time trying to get their priorities straightened out.  Let’s hope that continued involvement in Afghanistan isn’t one of them.

Rich

Once again, the weird and wacky world of  Afghanistan politics has taken center stage.  The issue this time, like many other times in the past, is Afghanistan’s bumper crop of illegal heroin.  As the world’s leading supplier of heroin for decades, if not centuries, the population of this impoverished and war-torn nation know full well the importance of their country’s only, real cash crop.  The fact that illegal Afghanistan heroin has made its way into every major crime syndicate in the world, and the fact that this highly dangerous and addictive drug has ruined millions of lives across the globe seems to be of little concern to the government of Hamid Karzai and the al-Qaeda-supported war-lords that control most of the country.  The highly lucrative heroin business has always been a major source of profit for corrupt government officials (Karsai included), and an important source of funding for both al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  This is unlikely to change any time soon.

Although the heroin business has been good for the corruption-ridden government of Afghanistan, it hasn’t been so good for neighboring Russia, nor for the countries of Western Europe and North America, whose drug addicted populations have pumped billions of dollars into the country year after year.   Being between the proverbial “rock and a hard place”, the Karsai government has paid lip service to the “problem” of Afghanistan’s  heroin exports by supporting a limited crop eradication program, but has at the same time has protested loudly when concrete actions have been taken.   President Karsai knows full well that heroin revenues are supplying weapons to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but he also understands that all Afghanis (including himself) have a “right” to a share of the profits.  A share of the heroin revenues seems to be looked upon as a birthright for most Afghani citizens, and an outright  necessity for government bureaucrats.

The Karsai government’s cozy relationship with the drug producers, and its very lucrative share of the action, was dealt a blow last week when a joint U.S. – Russian raid was carried out against major drug labs in Eastern Afghanistan.  The highly unusual cooperation between U.S. and Russian drug agencies succeeded in seizing over 932 kilograms of heroin from four labs in Nangarhar Province.  Russia has long complained that NATO forces were not doing enough to battle the heroin traffic that flows directly across its borders through the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

Although the Afghan Interior Ministry was involved in the raid, and although the Afghan security forces were in the thick of things, President Karsai went into a rage when he found out the raids had occurred.  The illustrious President was quoted as saying, “The Afghan government condemns this NATO action and declares that such arbitrary action is a blatant violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty. . .”   In other words, keep your hands off our opium crops, but don’t stop sending your soldiers here to die for our right to keep your populations addicted. For this, and many other reasons, the U.S. foray into Afghanistan has lasted long enough.  Eventually the Karsai government will fall and the Taliban will most likely regain power.  Thereafter, the Afghanis will continue doing what they do best; produce heroin for the wretched millions who are looking for a fix.

Rich

At the same time that  U.S. troops in Afghanistan are putting their lives on the line  fighting Taliban and al Qaida insurgents, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Kabul.  As could be expected, Ahmadinejad has taken this opportunity to sharply criticize the U.S. for its military presence in Afghanistan, and to emphasize that Americans will never be able to bring peace to Afghanistan through military means.  The Iranian President further stated that the presence of  U.S. troops in Afghanistan is only escalating tensions and creating a higher level of instability.  In response to Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks,  Secretary of  Defense, Robert Gates, accused the Iranian leader of playing a “double game”  in Afghanistan by professing support for the Afghan government while undermining U.S.-led efforts to improve the government and stabilize the country.  As accusations fly back and forth between Washington and Tehran, the real truth of the matter is that Hamid Karzai is the one playing the “double game”.

The Karzai government has received billions of dollars of  foreign assistance by playing off  Iran against the United States, and all the while enjoying protection from his enemies by the U.S. military.  Out of one side of his mouth, Karzai thanked Ahmadinejad for his long-time assistance, and called the Islamic state a “real friend”.  Out of the other side of his mouth he thanked Secretary Gates for American help in fighting off insurgents, and called America a friend of Afghanistan.  Even as U.S. troops are engaging in deadly battles in the southern provinces, Mr. Karzai is discussing with Ahmadinejad the possibility of building a railroad linking Iran and Tajikistan through Afghanistan.

It should come as no surprise that the Afghan government is interested in building a stronger alliance with their Muslim brothers in Iran.  Not only do both countries share a thousand mile border, but Iran, being the dominant power in the region, is clearly in a position to influence internal policy in Afghanistan when the time is right.  At the present time, Tehran  is content to let American blood be spilled battling the insurgents, knowing full well that when the battle is over, and American troops leave the region,  the Afghans will elect a pro-Iranian government.   For the Iranians, what cannot be reasonably obtained on the battlefield will be eventually be  obtained through the ballot box.

-Rich