Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Not So Good News

You remember Afghanistan right? The Taliban, Osama, Al Qaida, any of this ringing a bell? Well the New York Times (reg. required) has a piece out today that paints a not so rosy picture of life in Afghanistan.

Some of the lowlights:

Across Afghanistan, roadside bomb attacks are up by 30 percent; suicide bombings have doubled. Statistically it is now nearly as dangerous to serve as an American soldier in Afghanistan as it is in Iraq.

Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the worldÂ’s supply of opium poppy, the basis for heroin.

American officials said the country was more destitute than they had envisioned, yet the $909 million they provided in assistance in 2002 amounted to one-twentieth of the $20 billion allocated for postwar Iraq.

American officials calculated that six Afghan policemen were dying for every soldier in the National Army who was killed.

And this was supposed to be our success in the war on terror?

1 comment:

John Good said...

Proof, once again, that it's generally a good idea to finish a purposeful war before starting another one that has no purpose at all. Unless greed, oil and corporatism are worthwhile purposes.