SYNDICATED COLUMN: Build Stuff. Then Leave.
In Afghanistan, Pull Out Soldiers and Send in Engineers
Eight years into the longest war in American history, we've learned what doesn't work in Afghanistan. What will?
More troops won't help. But neither will the prescription now being floated in Washington: maintaining bases of small commando units that could be called upon to wage covert counterinsurgency operations across the border in Pakistan.
Now it's time to fight the war for hearts and minds the way it ought to have been done from the start—instead of hostile troops, Afghanistan needs civil engineers. Stop blowing up wedding parties and start building bridges. Pack away the Predator drones and string up fiberoptic cable. It's time to give Afghanistan what it needs most, and what Afghans crave: the gift of infrastructure.
More than anything else, Afghans need paved roads. The second priority is electricity. Third is telephone service. An Afghanistan possessing these three building blocks of nationhood could modernize its own economy and political system at an astonishing speed. And it would have the people of the United States to thank.
According to the Pentagon, fewer than 15 percent of Afghanistan's roads are paved, but most of these include roads that no American driver would deem passable. NGOs say fewer than one percent are in decent shape. Either way, moving people or goods from one place to another is a daunting prospect in Afghanistan. Distances that can be covered in the U.S. by a 15-minute drive require hours of torturous travel over backbreaking, axle-shattering ruts and blast craters.
The U.S. recently spent $1 million to help Afghanistan open its first national park, in the relatively peaceful Bamiyan province. But no one visits the park—due to the state of the roads. "The drive to Band-e-Amir from the Afghan capital of Kabul, 150 miles away, takes as long as 12 hours over rocky roads," reports USA Today. "Trucks easily overturn, and the talc-like dust of the high desert regularly chokes the air filters of even the hardiest vehicles." In addition, hundreds of bridges have been blown up during 30 years of civil war, forcing motorists to ford rivers. Cars get washed away all the time.
A local eco-tourism guide says the park is a waste of money. "We need a road. We need electricity. We need an airport," says Jawad Wafa, 22. Afghans have been pleading with the U.S. to stop bombing and start building for years. The U.S. makes promise after promise, but the bulldozers never arrive. Americans blame corrupt Afghans. Afghans complain that the Taliban makes construction too dangerous. Billions of dollars have vanished; little has been accomplished.
With relatively few natural resources and little arable land, Afghanistan is economically most notable for the countries it separates. Its only hope for prosperity relies on trade. Pakistani truckers want to ply a new Silk Road by shipping cheap manufactured goods from India and China into Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia and eastern Europe. The Afghans could collect tolls and customs duties on products passing through their territory. But this traffic will remain a mere trickle as long as the roads remain impassable and unsafe.
Farmers currently account for 85 percent of the population, and some of them could be persuaded to stop growing opium and return to traditional Afghan crops—pomegranates, apricots and almonds—if decent roads allowed them to get their produce to markets.
Electricity is another vital component of a modern state. But only seven percent of Afghanistan has any electricity whatsoever. Even Kabul suffers daily blackouts. Were the Afghan electrical grid to become widespread and reliable, people wouldn't have to rush home before dusk to avoid gangs of roving rapists and murderers. It would be harder for Taliban forces to plant roadside bombs and ambush vehicles on brightly lit highways. Factories and offices could remain open, run computers, and operate after dark. Water pumps would become more efficient and ubiquitous.
A broad communications network is the third prerequisite for economic viability. When I was in Afghanistan during the fall of 2001, I was struck by how easily misinformation could be used to fleece people. "The U.S. dollar is down versus the afghani," a moneychanger told me, "because many U.S. cities have been destroyed." By whom? I asked. "The Taliban!" Nice try. But others believed him.
On another occasion, I needed to know whether the Uzbek-Afghan border crossing at Termiz was open. There was no way to find out.
It's impossible to conduct business without the reliable exchange of information. But only eight percent of Afghans have access to any form of telephone service, including public call booths. Those with a dedicated phone number—where people can reach them any time—are even fewer. Without telephone service, it's impossible to know when a truckload of goods is due to arrive. Casual conversations that could lead to innovation ("What? You can't get them in Kandahar? They're cheap here in Herat.") never have a chance to take place.
Investment in infrastructure would allow Afghans to stand on their own feet economically. As happened in the U.S. a century ago, rural electrification and highway construction would bring outsiders to communities cut off by war and rugged terrain. Radios and televisions, currently useless, would introduce 21st century mores to 14th century cultures. As has occurred in many parts of the world—whether for better or for worse—popular culture would have a liberalizing influence on Afghans. How long would women tolerate the burqa after they learned that it's an anomaly within the Muslim world?
The United States should offer its expertise in building infrastructure with no strings attached, while renouncing all interest in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Regardless of who runs the show in Kabul—even the Taliban—we should continue to help. And it should be free. No loans.
First rebuild Afghanistan. Then leave. After all, we broke it.
(Ted Rall is author of the books "To Afghanistan and Back" and "Silk Road to Ruin.")
COPYRIGHT 2009 TED RALL
Eight years into the longest war in American history, we've learned what doesn't work in Afghanistan. What will?
More troops won't help. But neither will the prescription now being floated in Washington: maintaining bases of small commando units that could be called upon to wage covert counterinsurgency operations across the border in Pakistan.
Now it's time to fight the war for hearts and minds the way it ought to have been done from the start—instead of hostile troops, Afghanistan needs civil engineers. Stop blowing up wedding parties and start building bridges. Pack away the Predator drones and string up fiberoptic cable. It's time to give Afghanistan what it needs most, and what Afghans crave: the gift of infrastructure.
More than anything else, Afghans need paved roads. The second priority is electricity. Third is telephone service. An Afghanistan possessing these three building blocks of nationhood could modernize its own economy and political system at an astonishing speed. And it would have the people of the United States to thank.
According to the Pentagon, fewer than 15 percent of Afghanistan's roads are paved, but most of these include roads that no American driver would deem passable. NGOs say fewer than one percent are in decent shape. Either way, moving people or goods from one place to another is a daunting prospect in Afghanistan. Distances that can be covered in the U.S. by a 15-minute drive require hours of torturous travel over backbreaking, axle-shattering ruts and blast craters.
The U.S. recently spent $1 million to help Afghanistan open its first national park, in the relatively peaceful Bamiyan province. But no one visits the park—due to the state of the roads. "The drive to Band-e-Amir from the Afghan capital of Kabul, 150 miles away, takes as long as 12 hours over rocky roads," reports USA Today. "Trucks easily overturn, and the talc-like dust of the high desert regularly chokes the air filters of even the hardiest vehicles." In addition, hundreds of bridges have been blown up during 30 years of civil war, forcing motorists to ford rivers. Cars get washed away all the time.
A local eco-tourism guide says the park is a waste of money. "We need a road. We need electricity. We need an airport," says Jawad Wafa, 22. Afghans have been pleading with the U.S. to stop bombing and start building for years. The U.S. makes promise after promise, but the bulldozers never arrive. Americans blame corrupt Afghans. Afghans complain that the Taliban makes construction too dangerous. Billions of dollars have vanished; little has been accomplished.
With relatively few natural resources and little arable land, Afghanistan is economically most notable for the countries it separates. Its only hope for prosperity relies on trade. Pakistani truckers want to ply a new Silk Road by shipping cheap manufactured goods from India and China into Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia and eastern Europe. The Afghans could collect tolls and customs duties on products passing through their territory. But this traffic will remain a mere trickle as long as the roads remain impassable and unsafe.
Farmers currently account for 85 percent of the population, and some of them could be persuaded to stop growing opium and return to traditional Afghan crops—pomegranates, apricots and almonds—if decent roads allowed them to get their produce to markets.
Electricity is another vital component of a modern state. But only seven percent of Afghanistan has any electricity whatsoever. Even Kabul suffers daily blackouts. Were the Afghan electrical grid to become widespread and reliable, people wouldn't have to rush home before dusk to avoid gangs of roving rapists and murderers. It would be harder for Taliban forces to plant roadside bombs and ambush vehicles on brightly lit highways. Factories and offices could remain open, run computers, and operate after dark. Water pumps would become more efficient and ubiquitous.
A broad communications network is the third prerequisite for economic viability. When I was in Afghanistan during the fall of 2001, I was struck by how easily misinformation could be used to fleece people. "The U.S. dollar is down versus the afghani," a moneychanger told me, "because many U.S. cities have been destroyed." By whom? I asked. "The Taliban!" Nice try. But others believed him.
On another occasion, I needed to know whether the Uzbek-Afghan border crossing at Termiz was open. There was no way to find out.
It's impossible to conduct business without the reliable exchange of information. But only eight percent of Afghans have access to any form of telephone service, including public call booths. Those with a dedicated phone number—where people can reach them any time—are even fewer. Without telephone service, it's impossible to know when a truckload of goods is due to arrive. Casual conversations that could lead to innovation ("What? You can't get them in Kandahar? They're cheap here in Herat.") never have a chance to take place.
Investment in infrastructure would allow Afghans to stand on their own feet economically. As happened in the U.S. a century ago, rural electrification and highway construction would bring outsiders to communities cut off by war and rugged terrain. Radios and televisions, currently useless, would introduce 21st century mores to 14th century cultures. As has occurred in many parts of the world—whether for better or for worse—popular culture would have a liberalizing influence on Afghans. How long would women tolerate the burqa after they learned that it's an anomaly within the Muslim world?
The United States should offer its expertise in building infrastructure with no strings attached, while renouncing all interest in Afghanistan's internal affairs. Regardless of who runs the show in Kabul—even the Taliban—we should continue to help. And it should be free. No loans.
First rebuild Afghanistan. Then leave. After all, we broke it.
(Ted Rall is author of the books "To Afghanistan and Back" and "Silk Road to Ruin.")
COPYRIGHT 2009 TED RALL
Labels: afghanistan
posted by Ted Rall at
12:18 PM
21 Comments:
This should work: Leave Afghanistan, period. Leave every piece of equipment we shipped into the country. The only additional items to leave the Afghans would be battery-powered dvd players with a ten-year supply of batteries and hundreds of thousands of volumes of the entire Andy Griffith Show. Allowing the Afghans time and space to absorb every single nuance of good old American rural life should calm their warlike impulses the way smoke calms honey bees. It wouldn't take even five years to come back and find every single citizen speaking jes' laak Andy, Barney, Aint Bee, Opie, Floyd the barber, Goober, Gomer, Helen Crump, Thelma Lou and Ernest T. Bass, to name a few familiar characters. I just don't know if anyone in the entire universe can ever reproduce the special gasoline flavor of Aint Bee's home-made pickles. Hey, Andy! What could go wrong?
The Jocker in your proposed deck of course the Taliban. Would the sit idely by as roads, powerline and telephone lines were strung up? My guess is no, they want to be in power and they want Afghanistan to remain feudal. They would view the attempts at modernization as an attempt to keep the present regime in power and an attempt to westernize the country. Unless they could be convinced that it's in their best interest to have infrastructure after they take over, would it ever be allowed to happen.
Well written and thought out, Ted.
Ted, there you go making sense again. One of the most upsetting things to me is that when I try to explain what you write to the people I know, mostly they don't undertand it, and when they do, don't agree. I think that I need smarter (or more moral) friends.
Yes, I agree with Ted that we should do these things, but I would add that we would have to buy off the Taliban first. A way to do this would be to pay lower-level Taliban soldiers to help rebuild infrastructure at a higher rate than they currently have in Taliban.
But alas, it will never be done, because Afghanistan has one major export: It produces 80% of the world's opium, which is a big business for everyone involved in it. It's a narco state in the truest sense of the term, and development would threaten profits.
And if you think the US is not involved in this, think again.
Just leave them the F*ck alone.
Some places should be left wild.
Even if they are dusty psychos in a shithole country, it's their land, let them be.
Repeat after me, 9/11 was an inside job. Watch "Zeitgeist" on Google Vid, mmmkay? It had ZERO to do with Afghanistan. Not one hijacker from Afghanistan, Not ONE from Iraq. They were from Saudi Arabia.
Another reason to let Afghanistan alone is the drug trade. We should just LEGALIZE all drugs, let the "one hit=addict" people weed themselves out and then adapt to it. Most of the "Rich Elite" are highly addictive personalities, they'd cook themselves. Afghanistan produces, when not Chester the USAmeriKKKa Molestered, the world's BEST Opium, Hashish and second-best Marijuana. Hashish was invented there... Just legalize and then buy, the influx of money to the area and "Western Goods" will help out a lot. They'll see the DVDs and play the video games and want more, and a few warlords will create "Western Zones" or "International Trade cities" eventually.
The third and last reason is that Afghanistan is a "Soft Place". It shares it's borders with "Djinistan", an area where this world overlaps with another.
The soldiers in Afghanistan found interesting things, like wells and caves and ruins that had weird carvings in no known language. However, even the statue destroying Taliban had not dared touch these, for these were marked entrances to the land of the Djinn. The wells and caves would go into dead ends that were made of a soft substance like peat and totally light absorbing, just this black mass. But cameras posted would catch things coming into and out of them late at night, things like dogs that walked sideways and snakes that moved in a straight line when they got to the opening.
The long and short is that IF the Djinn do exist as in legends, they are the last beings in the universe we want P.O.'d at us. Not even so much as P.O.'d either, they'd rip the skin from our bones for fun if bored. It's just that, according to legend, they were prevented (barriers, threats of being struck down) by God since they tended to kill people for fun right off the bat. But they aren't devils, though many have earned the name. They are creatures of "Free Will" like man, just that they are energy based versus matter based. So we have a race of invisible shape changers and while few if any are as powerful as their cinematic image, most are simply deadly like Goro from "Mortal Kombat".
The thing is, IF they exist, and IF the soldiers keep dropping grenades down "Spider Holes" no matter the panicked locals, they just might manage to hurt enough of them that whatever "Rules" they have to follow are null and void. Then they'd go berserk and kill lots of soldiers and the "Thankful" Afghans would point the direction of America for more "Fun" and hopefully away from them. Even the best special forces teams are no match for creatures that can blink into and out of our universe, see us clearly from their universe, are invisible and are made of fire and like to rip apart people for food and fun.
SS: "And if you think the US isn't involved in this, think again."
Where's your evidence?
We will never see the things you suggest here happen in Afghanistan Ted. We both know this. I mean, its a great exercise to discuss it. Hopefully people will wise up, and buy your book and see just what America has done to Afghanistan...which is what Russia had been doing for decades prior. Afghanistan is nothing more than the new Saudi Arabia; though the British empire building effort was far, far more successful (maybe we should let them have a go eh?) The fact is, Afghanistan is as America wants it. The US military and private contractors protect the poppy crop and I firmly believe assist in exporting raw and/or processed heroin (how else would one explain a massive increase in the output of heroin since we arrived?)
In reading your article, from my idealistic perspective, I too believe that Afghanistan should be left alone. Ideally anyway. But I don't know what the people of Afghanistan want. From news about the recent election and widespread fraud therein, it appears that we'll never really learn what Afghanistan wants. But I have to believe that the option to just be left alone is probably higher on most Afghanis list then say, a trade route or another oil pipeline (oops, spilled the beans about why we're really in Afghanistan...)
As long as the US and Britain have such influence over the UN and its policies as is the case today, we will continue to see Afghanistan used as a source of heroin and destination for arms dealers' wares. And as long as the people of America and Britain continue to be ignorant of anything other than their personal needs as dictated to them by the same corporations that enslave them, the status quo will continue for nations like Afghanistan.
As a man on a mission to find true freedom as a human, I am quite apalled at the willingness of nations like America to go to such lengths to "civilize" free people and bring them such wonderful things as poverty, wealth-inequality, corruption, war, and terrorism. But I'm not an idealist who is out of touch with reality. I know that I will find what I am looking for - if I can survive the fall of America.
By the way, what will America look like after the fall? Read "Oryx and Crake" and watch "Idiocracy" for the best idea. It lies somewhere between the two I would venture to guess. I say this because that was the missing element in "Idiocracy" was the corporate leaders who are directing the fall of America. And they are there, still doing what they do best, in "Oryx and Crake."
Thanks for posting this Ted. Hope you are finding the financial benefit you deserve from your writings. If I weren't dirt-freakin' poor myself, I'd be grabbing a copy of a couple of your books.
I assume there is evidence for the Djinn right? CCTV video footage like you said? Can we get a link to this "evidence"?
Anon 3:23AM, you are insane.
Evidence? The US has been in Afghanistan for eight whole years now. There was plenty of opportunity to get rid of the opium poppies in that time frame.
It's one of those issues that the Dying Mainstream Media won't touch. But if they did touch it, then they probably wouldn't be
dying.
Anon 3:23,
Some historians theorize that the Jinns are actually a people who lived in Yemen at one time. And even some modern Yemenis will say "We are Jinns". But don't quote me on that.
In any case, I do not wish for US soldiers, or Taliban or warlords for that matter, ever to go into said Realm of the Jinns. No doubt these mythical creatures will suffer the same fate as Afghans for the past thirty years.
duh.
same thing coulda/shoulda happened in iraq.
it didn't.
it won't happen here.
we are destroyers not builders. (at least lately).
------
n o o n e
I figured my earlier post on the "Djinn" risk would trigger some, shall we say Skepticism... Oh, well...
But to the last poster, well imagine a creature about as tough and mean as "Goro" from Mortal Kombat and might be able to turn into thick fire... Now, if it was just like that a modern special forces team would probably sniper it from miles away. Or they'd sneak up behind and shoot it. Face to face... Well, I don't say I'd do better and if anybody would clobber it they would.
However, imagine it also being able to turn invisible and seamlessly slide back and forth into it's reality, but still perceive ours. Any human army would have virtually no chance for they'd just jump into the midst and rip people apart, or drag them back and rip them apart. And some of them are so evil and malignant they would have for any reason, if a few grenades dropped down one of their holes manages somehow to hurt them and the "Truce or else" given by the man upstairs is nullified... ouch!
But to the guy who called me "Insane" well, I don't blame you. However, I consider it far crazier we are in there at all...
They did NOT do 9/11. Mmmaybe the SAUDI prince Osama Bin Laden who clearly isn't there anymore.
What they DID do is kick the Soviet's butts during the cold war and they kicked their red communist butts so hard that that defeat along with Chernobyl was what is credited with triggering the Soviet downfall. Now, flirting with WWIII to do this, Ray-Gun supplied them with good weapons. Nowadays, they get good weapons from "merchants of Death" and the Saudi royal family to kick our butts.
So, for a "Sane" thing, I propose leaving them the F-ck alone. Let them grow pot and opium and let any "westernization" be in the DVDs and stuff they trade it for, besides silly things like food. Frankly, the worst fanatics hold is broken and without the USA being "Great Satan" they could regain and keep the hold they lost due to the Soviets which the Taliban then seized shortly after. The warlords do want to slowly westernize to a reasonable extent.
And, if my "Insane" idea is right, well then if we are out of there, it's they that have to worry about those things, right?
If I weren't dirt-freakin' poor myself, I'd be grabbing a copy of a couple of your books.
Another lecture from a Statist who has all the answers and is broke. Apparently the only Statists that have any money are those that go into government or education.
"Statist" eh?
See, this is what happens when you try to label someone. It affords you the opportunity to marginalize, but it fails to present the true picture of the individual, and in the meantime, to anyone who knows the truth, you come out looking like a total ass - and since I'm revealing the truth of my poverty to all who read, you sir (or madam) are an ass.
I am dirt-freakin' poor because I am disabled, and because we live in a system where you need an army of attorneys and legions of doctors and trucksfull of money to be able to PROVE an inability to maintain gainful employment (the inability of which is the very definition of disabled.)
So, thank you very much for both insulting me, and making an ass out of yourself simultaneously. Perhaps you can make up for your transgression by mailing me a copy of Ted's up and coming book which I am interested in...
What the hell IS a statist, by the way? Because I thought I was a realistic idealist myself. Or an asshole. But, I don't believe in labels anyway...
Oh, and any fool could have done a simple bit of research by going to the link above, and reading my profile to find out that I'm dirt-freakin' poor because I'm disabled, not because I'm a "statist."
Perhaps you can make up for your transgression by mailing me a copy of Ted's up and coming book which I am interested in...
There's no way I'd ever let that nut have my mailing address unless it was a P.O. box.
And I wouldn't because there are plenty of right-wing terrorists in America. (I just spent some time reading the writings of nutjob Eric Rudolph.)
EIGHT U.S. TROOPS DEAD IN BOLD ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN
Published: October 4, 2009 New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan
TET.
And I wouldn't because there are plenty of right-wing terrorists in America. (I just spent some time reading the writings of nutjob Eric Rudolph.)
Are you reading any of Bill Ayers writings? You can start with "Dreams From My Father".
There were two things the Taliban were very good at pre-2001. One was keeping women from getting raped (seriously, pull out the old New Yorker articles. . .) and the other was eliminating heroin production.
There were far more Taliban than there are troops -- and the Taliban spoke the language & knew the culture.
The US doesn't have to be helping with poppy production -- all they have to be doing is preventing the Taliban from doing the same.
If the US really wants to make Afghanistan not a shithole, they should treat it like a colony. Enforce US law but let the Taliban run the place -- that is, ensure basic, Lockean freedoms and allow girls'n'ladies to go burka-less and learn to read again and build roads but let the Afghanis run their daily lives.
If that's the Taliban, so be it, but the US should be unafraid to shoot without prejudice anyone behaving in an oppressive manner (except for themselves, natch).
If we're unwilling to do this (as it seems we are) then we should just pack up and leave. Or carpet bomb.
Are you reading any of Bill Ayers writings? You can start with "Dreams From My Father".
That one made me chuckle.
Post a Comment
<< Home