News from the Other War

On the other side of the world, we're losing a second war simultaneously.

We've been at war in Afghanistan, or the direct cause of war in Afghanistan, since at least the 1980s, when we took to arming and training the Muhjahadeen fighters who would later form both the opposing sides in the ongoing civil war there today. Al-Queda is a direct result of our ill-considered plan to help push the Soviet army out of a worthless patch of dirt that they could never have held for any length of time either way. It was stupid, naive, and the consequences have been devastating for the entire world.

There is a Tom Hanks movie coming out on the subject called 'Charlie Wilson's War', about the otherwise do-nothing Congressman who singlehandedly was responsible for much of the push to train and arm these men, who now form the core of the Al-Queda terror network that we are supposedly fighting. From the trailers it looks to be a feel-good, 'rollicking' story of how one person can make a difference, even in politics.

It'd be worth noting what difference Wilson's plan ultimately made. But I don't expect Hollywood to put a downer ending on the movie. Me, I'd close it with a shot of the WTC going down in flames, and the screams of people running down the streets of New York in terror. *shrug*

All this leads to the situation today, where we continue to deal with the fallout from the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Taliban and Al-Queda forces wage a continuous low level war in Afghanistan, operating out of a semi-autonomous region across the border in our so-called ally, Pakistan. Pakistan is run by a corrupt military dictator by the name of Musharraf. Yes I know he supposedly stepped down as head of the army. If you believe that he's not in control, however, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'm eager to offload.

That brings us up to today, where we are throwing money, weapons and training at Pakistan in the hopes of cleaning up the mess where we threw money, weapons and training at Afghanistan twenty years ago...

Waste in the Wasteland
As you might suspect, writing blank checks to a military dictator is a rather inefficent way of fighting an enemy. Case in point: Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped.

Five billion dollars seems like chump change compared to Iraq, but it's worth remembering that spending money badly can be worse than spending no money at all.

Civilian opponents of President Pervez Musharraf say he used the reimbursements to prop up his government. One European diplomat in Islamabad said the United States should have been more cautious with its aid.

“I wonder if the Americans have not been taken for a ride,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Case in point. The money we've spent has done wonders -- for President Musharraf. We've succeeded in propping up an incompetent dictator whose interests run counter to ours. Bravo.

After Six Years, a Plan

Early last week, six years after President Bush first began pouring billions of dollars into Pakistan’s military after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Pentagon completed a review that produced a classified plan to help the Pakistani military build an effective counterinsurgency force.

Nice that we thought this one through in advance. By 'in advance', I actually mean, 'not at all', of course. Think of it as Newspeak for the Bush administration.

“I was astounded,” said the officer, who would not speak for attribution because he now holds another senior military post. “On one side of the border we were paying a billion to get very little done. On the other side of the border — the Afghan side — we were scrambling to find the funds to train an army that actually wanted to get something done.”

I could do this all day, but you should probably just read the article for the full details on our colossal pants-downer in Pakistan. It's a national disgrace, but with any luck for our esteemed defense contractors, we'll still be there, doling out cash and guns, in another 20 years.

Source: The New York Times

With Friends Like These
The Brits have been stabbing us, the Afghan people, and Democracy in general in the back with a dull knife, apparently conducting negotiations with the Taliban in secret.

Despite Gordon Brown denying this from the floor of Parliament.

Source: The Telegraph

Like Rats from a Sinking Ship
Meanwhile, it turns out, the UN and the EU have been up to much the same tricks, with their representatives also meeting with the Taliban despite the direct opposition of the governor of the region in which these meetings took place. They have since been thrown out of the country.

Source: BBC News

So, to recap. The United States is spending billion of dollars to prop up the Pakistani government, which has no intention of actually arming its own troops properly or fighting the radicals in its own territory, but would love to take our cash to keep itself in power and to build weapons to fight the Indian government.

The British have been directly undermining us by conducting secret negotiations with the people who directly supported the WTC attacks.

And now the Afghan government has had to expel representatives from the EU and the UN for conspiring to meet with Taliban officials.

This war is going SO WELL.