Article: Lightning Bolts and Slopes in Afghanistan

It's clear that the administration is insisting, at every level of this escalation of force, that each area of responsibility put the non-military components of their mission at the forefront of their efforts. What is less clear is how much 'space' the military (and the Afghans) will allow, or establish with their own capability and will, for the beneficent part of the escalated occupation to take root.

Paul Jones, Special Envoy to Afghanistan, who also spoke at the AIE conference, said the administration is going to ask Congress for 1000 more 'civilian advisers and experts' for Afghanistan, over and above the 1000 civilian experts promised to be in place in Afghanistan by next month.

The plan for this influx of aid and development assistance is to distribute much of it directly to the government ministries, in many cases, bypassing Karzai's central authority and influence. An earlier plan had the U.S. inserting a monitor within the regime to measure the progress (or not) of the U.S. expectations and demands as a way of dissuading and thwarting the corruption they admit now infects most of the Afghan government from hijacking devouring the U.S. contributions before they reach their intended destination in America's own nation-building scheme of influence.

"We've looked at every civilian assistance program and contract and we've said, 'Look, we're not going to just aid and abet bad behavior," Clinton told 'Face the Nation' Saturday.

The administration's hopes for an honest and thrift-worthy reception from the ethically-challenged Afghan government in response to their U.S patronage and parentage package were shaken by a bemused and bristling Karzai as he shrugged off suggestions that the U.S. would bypass and supersede his authority whenever they judged them corrupt. "Afghanistan is a sovereign country, it has a sovereign government, it's not an occupied country," Karzai said on CNN's "Amanpour" Sunday, adding that a foreign power can't undermine or go around the government to deal with whomever it chooses."

Also challenging the administration's plans to reform the afghan regime with U.S. dollars was a report from Michael Isikoff who cited "mounting evidence that Afghan government officials are spiriting millions of dollars in illicitly gained assets out of the country to the Persian Gulf."

"It's very blatant� ��"they are literally smuggling suitcases of bulk cash and moving them to Dubai," one U.S. official was quoted. One recent high-profile case cited by Isikoff had "two officials of the Hajj and Islamic Affairs Ministry arrested at Kabul International Airport trying to carry $360,000� ��"some of it hidden in biscuit boxes."

Isikoff also cited a passage in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report that says, "UAE law enforcement authorities have intercepted couriers arriving at Dubai's huge international airport from Afghanistan with millions of dollars in suitcases. But U.S. officials said the general rule is that couriers are simply required to declare the cash and allowed to move on, without seizing suspected illicit cash or creating a database of couriers for intelligence purposes. U.S. law enforcement agencies proposed a training program to teach inspectors at Dubai airport to spot suspicious couriers, but the effort was blocked by the Central Bank. � ��˜� ��˜We don't know, once the money comes into Dubai, where it goes," said an official at the U.S. embassy."

That level of corruption is a pretty slippery 'slope' to overcome in the narrow window the president has outlined for the success of his Afghanistan escalation of force. As with the Iraqi regime's foot-dragging on the political changes to their government that the president has said he's waiting for them to accomplish before he can pull our troops out, our military forces in Afghanistan are to make 'space' for the Karzai regime's foot-dragging reforms to emerge and blossom. As in Iraq, that prospect is subject to the same calculation by the military as the U.S. commander in Iraq believes he has until April of 2010 to recommend slowing the anticipated withdrawal of forces there to accommodate the regime's political stall.

That 'space' the president has ordered the U.S. troops in Afghanistan make and hold until the Karzai regime is to be engineered by the sacrifices of our own nation's defenders. Many will fight and die to make and preserve that space so the Afghan politicians can provide the buffer the president envisions against the Afghan resistance and the influence and activity of Pakistan's al-Qaeda. "This is the most dangerous time I've seen growing up the last four decades in uniform," Adm. Mullen told the departing troops at Lejeune.

"I am sure we will sustain an increase in the level of casualties, and I don't want to be in any way unclear about that," he told the troops. "This is what happened in Iraq during the surge and as tragic as it is, to turn this thing around, it will be a part of this surge, as well . . . I expect a tough fight in 2010," Mullen said.

"In the long run, it is not going to be about killing Taliban," he said. "In the long run, it's going to be because the Afghan people want them out . . . In the long run, we are anxious to get at al-Qaida and the leadership that resides in that border area," he said.

In the long run, it all seems like a pipe dream to me.

Next Page 1 | 2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).