Afghanistan: are we doing the bidding of organised crime?

[IFocus]

Since we are embedded military in the morass that is Afghanistan do we really understand how to establish stability as a ways to block radicalism.

Or are we just blundering along with a complete lack of understanding given the complexity.

A good article in SMH

"The laboratory province argument poses profound questions for Canberra - what if its 1500 troops are fighting the wrong enemy? What if Australians unwittingly are a part of the problem - not the solution?"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/doing-the-bidding-of-organised-crime-20090821-ett6.html

 

[Buckeroo]

Re: Afghanistan are we doing the bidding of organised crime

Since we are embedded military in the morass that is Afghanistan do we really understand how to establish stability as a ways to block radicalism.

Or are we just blundering along with a complete lack of understanding given the complexity.

A good article in SMH

"The laboratory province argument poses profound questions for Canberra - what if its 1500 troops are fighting the wrong enemy? What if Australians unwittingly are a part of the problem - not the solution?"

http://www.smh.com.au/world/doing-the-bidding-of-organised-crime-20090821-ett6.html

It all a frig mess - I don't think anything can be won. Powerful nations in the past have tried to subdue this region of the world & they have all had to tuck their tails between their legs & withdrawal.

This attempt won't be any different I'm afraid.

Cheers

 

[trainspotter]

Re: Afghanistan are we doing the bidding of organised crime

Given that this country has never been stable to start with and has been run by warlords and nomadic tribes for generations, it is unlikely that the country could be turned around to a democratic society within 8 years of "interference" by a U.S. led coalition.

In a state of effective war for most of the last quarter-century, Afghanistan was a Cold War battleground. Bearing in mind that the mighty Soviet Union forces were beaten back by this rag tag bunch of mercenaries (with the help of the U.S. supplying them military product) 1979 - 1989. Once the Soviets decided to withdraw a fratricidal civil war was allowed to fester for much of the 1990s and finally Al-Qaeda became the dominant governing body.

Jump forward to 2001 and the U.S. led Coalition invaded Afghanistan to try and cut the head off the snake with limited success. Most of the Taliban leadership simply moved into Pakistan and continued to wreak havoc from across the borders. The regions bordering Pakistan started an insurgency which in 2007 has spread west and to the central provinces around Kabul, along with a growing campaign of terrorist violence in the urban centres.

Following the political roadmap laid out in Bonn, the country has since seen the ratification of a new moderate Islamic Constitution and the election of a President and a National Assembly. The goal of a stable, sustainable state is increasingly unlikely as the troops pull out.

Opium production has exploded and the country is now responsible for 92 per cent of the world’s supply. I watched a documentary on SBS whereby the villagers were promised by the U.S. that if they destroyed their poppy crops that USD would be forthcoming. So they did and the U.S. G men did not hand over the great wads of cash as promised. No wonder the citizens are wary of the "infidels" in their country.