Afghanistan + 5

It's been just about five years since we decided to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan. I've written a few times this year as to how poorly things are going over there. Stephen Nunes has a more complete summary in Foreign Policy in Focus. Some excerpts from his article:

• According to the UN, Afghan living standards are close to the worst in the world. Life expectancy less than 45, per capita GDP less than $200, 70% illiteracy rate, infant mortality among the highest in the world. Human Rights Watch says, "Violence against women and girls remains rampant." The country really does not have functioning state institutions as Karzai is considered the mayor of Kabul rather than the president of the country.
• Doctors without Borders has left the country although they had been there since the '80s and had stayed through the Soviet war, the civil war and the Taliban. Things are just too unsafe today. Amnesty Internaitional claims, "The government and its international partners remained incapable of providing security to the people of Afghanistan" during the last year. The AP correspondent for Afghanistan for 18 years says that the government is "the biggest collection of mass murderers you'll ever get in one place".
• The resurgence of the opium trade is a primary reason for the country's instability as it provides funds for the war lords and the insurgents.

According to Nunes, we have not made good on our promises to rebuild the country. We've allied ourselves with the war lords and drug sellers. We're bombing the civilian population. We've cut aid by 30% in the last year and a lot of our development money has not gone to the people and areas that need it. We can arrest and hold people without charges.

But Nunes still maintains hope if we change our policies and out words into action.