In Depth
Afghanistan
Is the country collapsing?
Experts call for strategy rethink
Last Updated February 15, 2007
CBC News
Quote
Basically the U.S. and other coalition countries came in after 9/11, bombed the Taliban out of power and promised to rebuild to give people a new Afghanistan. Instead, they just gave them the old one: drugs, warlords, crime and all the factors that gave rise to the Taliban in the 1990s," Rashid said from his home in Lahore, Pakistan.
"People expected nation-building but instead they got NATO, corruption and a Taliban insurgency."
Winning Afghans' trust
For Kathy Gannon, a Canadian journalist and author of the Afghanistan memoir
I Is for Infidel, the problem begins and ends with the government put in place in Kabul after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.
"Ask any Afghan," she says, "they'll tell you they can't trust the police, they can't trust officials, they can't trust provincial governors. Therefore, they can't trust the international community that supports all of this."
An opium poppy crop that accounts for more than half of the country's economy is partly to blame for corruption, Gannon says, but so is the international community — the United States, Britain, Canada and other donors who have clout in Kabul but don't take advantage of it.
"Until we win back the trust of Afghans," she said, "all the money and all the military action in the world isn't going to make a difference."
End Quote
Basically the U.S. and other coalition countries came in after 9/11, bombed the Taliban out of power and promised to rebuild to give people a new Afghanistan. Instead, they just gave them the old one: drugs, warlords, crime and all the factors that gave rise to the Taliban in the 1990s," Rashid said from his home in Lahore, Pakistan.
"People expected nation-building but instead they got NATO, corruption and a Taliban insurgency."
Winning Afghans' trust
For Kathy Gannon, a Canadian journalist and author of the Afghanistan memoir
I Is for Infidel, the problem begins and ends with the government put in place in Kabul after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.
"Ask any Afghan," she says, "they'll tell you they can't trust the police, they can't trust officials, they can't trust provincial governors. Therefore, they can't trust the international community that supports all of this."
An opium poppy crop that accounts for more than half of the country's economy is partly to blame for corruption, Gannon says, but so is the international community — the United States, Britain, Canada and other donors who have clout in Kabul but don't take advantage of it.
"Until we win back the trust of Afghans," she said, "all the money and all the military action in the world isn't going to make a difference."
Basically the U.S. and other coalition countries came in after 9/11, bombed the Taliban out of power and promised to rebuild to give people a new Afghanistan. Instead, they just gave them the old one: drugs, warlords, crime and all the factors that gave rise to the Taliban in the 1990s," Rashid said from his home in Lahore, Pakistan.
"People expected nation-building but instead they got NATO, corruption and a Taliban insurgency."
Winning Afghans' trust
For Kathy Gannon, a Canadian journalist and author of the Afghanistan memoir
I Is for Infidel, the problem begins and ends with the government put in place in Kabul after U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.
"Ask any Afghan," she says, "they'll tell you they can't trust the police, they can't trust officials, they can't trust provincial governors. Therefore, they can't trust the international community that supports all of this."
An opium poppy crop that accounts for more than half of the country's economy is partly to blame for corruption, Gannon says, but so is the international community — the United States, Britain, Canada and other donors who have clout in Kabul but don't take advantage of it.
"Until we win back the trust of Afghans," she said, "all the money and all the military action in the world isn't going to make a difference."
Basically the U.S. and other coalition countries came in after 9/11, bombed the Taliban out of power and promised to rebuild to give people a new Afghanistan. Instead, they just gave them the old one: drugs, warlords, crime and all the factors that gave rise to the Taliban in the 1990s," Rashid said from his home in Lahore, Pakistan.
End Quote
This is exactly my point of view and if I can get the link to the actual report it mentiones that just destroying the poppy field will not work.
