Disgust and Afghanistan

Briefly I'll state my disgust with Frist's subpoena of Terri Schiavo. This morning when I read this I couldn't believe it, then I stopped myself of course this is believable. Republicans appear to believe the courts only count when it supports their agenda. There is a good editorial in the Washington Post that is worth reading.

Editorial

Now on to Afghanistan...We don't hear alot about what is happening there despite the fact that it's our inital war against terrorism. The impression given is that it's been a success, the Taliban is gone, elections were held, however the reality might be a bit different.

In doing some reading of different newspapers, as I do often, more and more complaints are coming out about the lack of security and lawlessness in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban life was restricted but crime was not something that happened often because of the severe nature of punishment that happened. In way of comparison what's happening is what would happen if you remove all rules from a household of children (not to diminish the Afghan's but to make a point), chaos would rule if there is no control. Things once wrong once they discover there is no control are done often. Theft, kidnapping, and other crimes are on the rise especially in certain terrorities. Most of this is directly related to the warlords who no longer have much to fear. Accusations of the police being involved in the participation and cover up of crimes have also increased.

People are beginning to state they almost preferred life under the Taliban than what is happening now. Last week, hundreds of men poured into the streets, demanding that President Hamid Karzai fire the provincial governor and police chief. Some threw rocks at military vehicles and chanted, "Down with the warlords!" Witnesses recalled some adding, "Bring back the Taliban!"

We've forgotten Afghanistan in our "war on terror", instead concentrating most of our attention and financial support on Iraq. Not only does this prove my belief that we should have concentrated on Afghanistan first before we even thought about war in Iraq, but it also leads to the troubling prediction that if we did not do a better job in making Iraq secure (which to date we haven't) Afghanistan is demonstration of what Iraq will become.

If we are going to keep being "nation builders" we must make sure we do not fail in giving these nations the tools to survive. Personally the solution would be to stop especially if we are not willing to do what is necessary. Since it's too late for both Afghanistan and Iraq to use a different method we should at least do what is necessary to finish the job the right way.

This is exactly how the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan, if we continue to ignore this no one should be surprised when they again regain control.