Friday, October 10, 2008

Afghanistan Today

Anand Gopal's article will bring you to tears. He recounts four or five incidents, including one in which he was involved, of life in Afghanistan today. He concludes
This is a war to be won by constructing roads, creating jobs, cleaning up the government, and giving Afghans something they've had preciously little of in the last 30 years: hope. However, hope is fading fast here, and that's a fact Washington can ill afford to ignore; for once the Afghans lose all hope, the Americans will have lost this war.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tears, indeed. What's the matter with this government that it thinks it can settle every problem with more and more bombs? But then, George W Bush got his kicks as a child by pulling the legs off frogs, and as a young man by executing Texan prisoners. I suppose that's what's the matter.
I would use this article as the latest "Hot-link" on Sparrow Chat, but I've just allocated the link to McClatchy Baghdad, and a story of journalistic horror in that nation.
It seems we could be losing on two fronts.

Richard said...

Recently, a Whitehall Mandarin arrived in Afghanistan. He informed a pretty highly placed brother Brit, already there, what 'must' be done.

The brother Brit, worldy wise and with a lifetime of personal experience in both the British military and the civilian 'services' - across three different continents - told him it couldn't be done. This same brother Brit, by the way, also happened to hold a (well earned), official diplomatic status, as well as a British monarch bestowed honour.

However, the whitehall-wallah, who has never before worked outside of mainland Britain, "insisted." Strongly.

So much so that his brother Brit resigned, almost on the spot.

How do I know this? Easy. Said 'brother' Brit, is my brother; real brother.

Richard said...

And now ..... this week .... Britain's top reservist S.A.S. officer also tells the Whitehall wallahs where to shove it.