Obama Lost in the Souk

The head of the Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign policy club for nabobs that provides policy advice to presidents says the war in Afghanistan has been drastically escalated in scope under Forty-four's administration from a counter-terrorism strategy to a state building strategy. The transformation in strategy has embroiled the United States in another foreign civil war. The focus of the war effort has shifted to the Taliban which is comprised of Pashtuns, and Pashtuns make up half the population of Afghanistan. Actual foreign terrorists seeking refuge there number less than a hundred according to our own intelligence. To make matters worst the Taliban is secretly aided by the Pashtun dominated Pakistan Interservice Intelligence agency (ISI). Richard Haass told CNN he "does not think Afghanistan is worth it".


US Person could not agree more. Because the corrupt central government makes deals with the Taliban, the United States is essentially fighting against it's own allies and resources. An example of this absurd situation is related by David Samuels in Harper's. Logistics move by truck in the country by necessity. Two major companies that escort convoys are known to pay bribes to the Taliban to avoid attacks. Bribes are about $800 per truck, although the tolls vary according to cargo and number of trucks. Both companies are owned by relatives of President Hamid Karzai. According to a report by the Center for International Cooperation at NYU, the US spends hundreds of millions of dollars on payments to private security firms and trucking companies. The Pentagon awarded NCL Holdings a $360 million contract for transportation services despite the fact the company was not registered with the Afghan government and did not own any trucks. The company is owned by Hamed Wardak, son of the Afghan defense minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak. Regardless of the US investment of $276 billion in Afghanistan, not to mention all the arms and legs, a contract to exploit the Aynak copper deposit estimated to be worth $88 billion was awarded last year to the Chinese! The bribe paid to the former minster of mines, a close friend of brother Mohammed Karzai, was reported at $30 million.  Karzai recently awarded other valuable mineral contracts to the Japanese {20.06.10}.


The corruption is so pervasive and extensive, the US government is incapable of keeping track of the millions it is throwing away in the desert. A government report on the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) gave it failing marks. The report cited 10 major ways SIGAR was failing to conduct meaningful investigations into waste, fraud and abuse. The agency has been criticized by Congress members from both parties. SIGAR actually found the re-election of Hamid Karzai as president to be 'democratic' when the consensus of observers is that the election was fraudulent. Forty-four must be affected by the White House omnipotence syndrome because he has lost sight of the way out of the Afghanistan camel souk. But 58% of his countrymen see the exit. They want him to adhere to a timetable for withdrawal. Nine Repugnants in the House voted with 2/3 of the Democratic caucus for the McGovern-Obey amendment to the recent war supplemental bill which would have required the president to submit a time table for US withdrawal.

[photo: National Geographic]