Afghanistan

You know, I think I've changed my mind on Afghanistan and the Manley panel's recommendations. I was initially quite taken by this idea of staying in Kandahar in a combat role as long as NATO supplied another 1000 troops, but I now think we're better off just pulling out.

Our politicians and journalists love to go on about the "fantastic" work that we're doing in Afghanistan. In some sense, they're probably right. While I haven't personally met any of our soldiers or seen them in action, there's every reason to believe that they're acting with great professionalism and bravery.

But there's a big difference between doing good work and making progress.

I'm sure our soldiers are building schools and encouraging girls to attend, but I'm also sure that these schools are being destroyed and girls kept home. I'm sure that our soldiers are trying to convince poppy farmers to switch to another crop, but I also know that poppy production in Kandahar has exploded like never before. I'm sure that we're training the Afghan National Army, but based on what I've read in British newspapers and magazines, I know that the Afghan soldiers are all horribly corrupt, intrinsically violent, under equipped, and in many cases, complete drug addicts. I'm sure that our soldiers are bravely putting themselves at risk fighting against the Taliban, but I'm equally sure that the Taliban are invincible.

In short, I don't think we're making any progress and I don't think we can make any progress. Afghanistan has been a disaster for the last 30 years and it is still a disaster. The country has been consummated by tribal warfare for ever, and shows little sign of wanting to move on. Corruption is rampant throughout the government, police, and the so-called Afghan Army, and the supposedly democratic Karzai government that we are defending practices torture and makes use of the death penalty for crimes against Islam such as carrying a text asking with "men can have many wives and not the reverse".

Today in the world, there are many countries governed by ruthless dictatorships whose population would like nothing more that to be "liberated" by NATO and given the opportunity to build a strong democracy. Burma stands out as the most obvious example.

There are also, today in the world, genocides being perpetrated. The situation in Darfur is particularly critical.

Yet we western nations are still wasting our resources and soldiers lives fighting in a country which doesn't really seem to want us there. In Afghanistan, it's "our western troops" agaisnt the Taliban, not the "People of Afghanistan supported by our troops", against the Taliban. The civiliants seem ambivalent at best, and would certainly be happy to help either us or the Taliban for some money.

I think that we should simply give the Karzai government a multi-billion dollar a year grant whose renewal would be conditional with the meeting of certain development targets. If the government and Afghan people truly want change, they'll make it happen themselves, otherwise, there's no point in trying to bring it by military force.