A Ministry offical decries the situation as ‘hopeless.” Not that any U.S. official, let alone Faux News or any of the other networks, will dare utter such truth publicly and on the record. No, we have to continue playing ‘pretend’ and tout progress and advances. Ah yes, democracy is on the march.
No, this isn’t about Iraq
It’s all about drug traffickers being the actual silent rulers in Afghanistan.
Here’s the conundrum: drugs account for over half of Afghanistan’s gross national product…traffickers are immersed throughout the various levels of the Afghan government, including Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamad Karzai…the poor farmers growing the opium earn less than $1,800 annually as the profits are raked in by the powers-that-be, including 13 present or former provincial Afghan governors…from this drug trade blossoms the vast corruption, the hellish human right abuses and private militias that keep the traffickers in power.
Hamid Karzi, for whatever it’s worth, has declared a holy war against the drug dealing. But words mean nothing as Karzai’s hands, while clean in these matters, are tied. He has no power to accomplish any change for the better less he wishes to endanger his life.
He has no effective military to use in dealing with the matter but, even if he did, these very same drug profiteers aided the United State in overthrowing the Taliban–they are our nominal but actual allies in the war on terrorism. These humanity-debasers are as adamant as the United States against the resurgence of the Taliban because the religionists took over and or reduced the Afghan drug trade when last in power. Having their profits reduced or eliminated is anathemic to these guys.
Holding hands with the devil. Sometimes, you do have to choose what you suppose to be the lesser of two evils. It the old line about ‘they may be bastards but they’re our bastards’ again.
But at least be honest and upfront about it. Drop the black-white, us-them facade. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
Truth serves no political purpose.
In the January 9, 2006 editon of NEWSWEEK is a Ron Moreau/Sami Yousafzai-written article about the dilemma. Read it here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663339/site/newsweek/