The Taliban still exists and things in Afghanistan are not going ‘swimmingly’

September 4, 2006

A recent CNN poll showed that the number of Americans who approve of U.S. military action in [tag]Afghanistan[/tag] has dropped to a new low (56%), and only about a quarter of the country (28%) believe the United States is winning the [tag]war[/tag] in Afghanistan.

But what about the president’s audacious claim that the [tag]Taliban[/tag] “is no longer is in existence“? Or the president’s allies who insist that “things are going swimmingly in Afghanistan“? Apparently, reality keeps getting in the way.

Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul.

He described the figures as “alarming” and “very bad news” for the Afghan government and international donors who have poured millions of dollars into programs to reduce the poppy crop since 2001.

He said the increase in cultivation was significantly fueled by the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the country’s prime opium growing region. As the insurgents have stepped up attacks, they have also encouraged and profited from the drug trade, promising protection to growers if they expanded their opium operations.

“This year’s harvest will be around 6,100 metric tons of opium — a staggering 92 percent of total world supply. It exceeds global consumption by 30 percent,” Mr. Costa said at a news briefing.

He said the harvest increased by 49 percent from the year before, and it drastically outpaced the previous record of 4,600 metric tons, set in 1999 while the Taliban governed the country. The area cultivated increased by 59 percent, with more than 400,000 acres planted with poppies in 2006 compared with less than 260,000 in 2005.

“It is indeed very bad, you can say it is out of control,” Mr. Costa said Friday in an interview before the announcement.

It’s not a pretty picture. The Bush administration’s plan for Afghanistan emphasizes two points: [tag]poppy[/tag] eradication and the elimination of the Taliban. What we find instead is a thriving Taliban forcing farmers in southern Afghanistan to grow more poppy than world-wide demand can handle, in exchange for protection.

It’s another stark reminder: both of Bush’s wars are going in the wrong direction.

Thanks CB. I like the “both wars” comment. I also laughed at your “almost-infamous” line about Rumsfield’s speech. Good stuff!

That opium production could have paid for the war in Afghanistan. More reliable than oil.

Sometimes I think of what could have been accomplished in Afghanistan if one-tenth the amount of money and effort had been spent there as has been spent in Iraq. Then I think the Busheois would have screwed that up too.

  • Let’s be honest about how much influence Karzai and the Afghanistan government have over the “whole” country. Karzai and his U.S. allies control the capital city, surrounding areas, and in total less than half of Afghanistan. MOST of Afghanistan is still run by local “warlords”, who run their areas as they see fit; usually along religous beliefs that are dominant in their area.

    So what I’m saying is: In reality, Karzai and the U.S. control very little of Afghanistan and that the increase in poppy production cannot be laid solely at the feet of the U.S. and the Karzai government.

  • And, don’t forget that 21 coalition troops have already died in Afghanistan this month. No Americans, but people fighting on our side.

  • Afghanistan, could have been and should have been, a shining example of success. We could have, with the right resources committed there and not diverted to the falsely justified war in Iraq, apprehended Bin Laden and rebuilt the country to a great degree. Women could have been educated. Democracy, albeit tribal, could have been instituted. Warlords can be overcome with money and troops and more money. This would have shown the Islamic world our resolve and, as we left gracefully and as early as possible, that we are not crusaders. But this is just one of the most egregious examples, in a long list, of this Sadministration’s pathetic incompetence and stupidity.

  • “A recent CNN poll showed that the number of Americans who approve of U.S. military action in Afghanistan….”

    I’d like to see a recent poll showing how many Americans are even aware that we have troops in Kabul (let alone the rest of Afghanistan). I’d also like to see a recent poll showing how many Americans can point to Afghanistan on a map.

  • B-b-but CB, you’re forgetting about Herr Bush’s “third” war—the one he always wins. He successfully conquers that little hill in Crawford with his mountain bike on a dependably-regular basis. I mean, he screams “air assault” at least three—maybe four—times as often as he says “my fellow Americans.

    However, if Herr Bush could hand up the mountain bike, pay someone to clear the brush, and cut the straw-manning of the United States down by—oh, let’s say at least a third—maybe he’d have time between existential authors to realize that his “legacy” is going to include “FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVER TO LOSE TWO WARS SIMULTANEOUSLY.”

    The nattering ninnyhammer almost makes Nixon look good….

  • Actually three wars are going badly: Afghanistan, Iraq and the global “war on terror.” Horrific failures all. If only the American people knew how badly. I think even Bush’s hard core 35% – give or take a few percent – would become soft and mushy if the real truth ever got out. Or rather, if the MSM presented the stark reality of it all.

    But the good news is Americans realize things aren’t going swimmingly in Afghanistan. I am really surprised. I would have guessed much higher numbers than the 56% and 28%. Maybe there is hope after all in that vast uninformed, unengaged electorate.

    But why don’t the Dems have the courage to provide a third option to this stay the course/cut and run dilemma they’ve become hapless victims of? That would entail eating crow, admitting the cowboy crusade of Bush and company was a complete disaster, and that a new course, enlisting the entire international community, is needed to clean up the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • Two days ago, several hundred Taliban fighters fought a battlion of Canadian troops in an op down in Southern Afghanistan.

    Some 200 (?) Taliban were killed and 4 Canadian soliders were killed and unknown wounded in extremely heavy fighting.

    Swimmingly? More like treading water in a hurricane!

    It is NATO that has to clean up the mess that Bushboy and Noload Warlord Rummy failed to do (even when they say otherwise.)

  • We picked a fight with Iraq before the job was anywhere near done in Afghanistan. We put Afghanistan on the “back burner” and made Iraq, a non- participant in 9/11, our priority.

    Anyone else see the similarities between Afghanistan and Iraq?
    When Iran becomes our “current crusade( I know, a very bad term, but hey, if it was good enough for King George, who am I to argue), are we going to abandon our prioities in Iraq to concentrate on Iran? Start another campaign before our last 2 campaigns are anywhere near finished? Is that any way to run the military?

  • And the war on drugs continues to lock up young people for victimless crimes. Another war where we’re defeating ourselves.

  • Kind of ironic. Bush, campaigning in 2000, stated he was against nation building. After invading Afghanistan and Iraq, he is attempting to build two nations that are probably the worst candidates imaginable on planet earth. Both are formed from diverse tribal groups. Both have had very violent histories. Corruption seems to be endemic in both. This is not an indictment of the people themselves, but the chances of the seed of democracy taking in either of these countries is pretty miniscule. Hard work, as Bush says. In 2000, if the American public had known that this nation building was going to happen under the watch of the next president, they would have never chosen to send a boy to do a man’s work.

  • Just face it, the US can not win a war anymore.

    Or to be more precise; can not agree on a cause anymore. That is usually the cue for nations to either pull their shit together and include everyone (takes some leadership and a generation or 2) or just split into little crappy fragments, it is quicker, but a bit disappointing for everyone.

    Alternatively you can just wait a few years and you will selfdestruct.

    PS Oh wait! Yeah, sowwy, I guess you guys won against Grenada and Panama couple of decades back.

  • Kald, Panama was maybe the first “war” chance that we had to field test the stealth bomber technology and some of the high tech bomb weaponry. We ended up killing at least a thousand poor Panamenos as a result. Another war that could have and should have been avoided if not for the screwups by Cheney and the brass. I know, another Blame America First response, but sometimes Americans just can’t keep their fingers out of the mouse trap.

    If anything, the high tech military can win wars too easily now, making our power too tempting for civilian leaders to utilize, especially in piss ant countries. We can easily get ourselves into the shitter, but find cleaning out the shitter a really nasty job.

  • “both of Bush’s wars are going in the wrong direction.”

    Ah well.
    See what happens when you don’t pay attention in school?

    Bush thought to divide and conquer meant that it is a good strategey to divide your army and send it into two different countries at the same time.

    Too bad America.
    But that’s what you get for electing a Dodo bird.

  • The Taliban, via an 2000 ban from Mullah Omar, banned (though possibly more PR reasons) the cultivation of opium becuase it “violated the teachings of the Koran.” The result: Afghanistan had managed to cut the opium crop coming out of Afghanistan from 500 to 180 tons (according to the WaPo article). If I remember all those concerned were worried about what would happen to those numbers after the Taliban (and their unpopular ban) was gone.

    Heck, just after the invasion in 2001 opium was moving back into Pakistan and in 2002 there were already signs that the opium was going to come back in a big way. By Feb 4, 2003 the WaPo listed Afghanistan as the top producer – surpassing Burma/Myanmar.

    This is a major source of income for the local farmers and those that are involved in the trade make beacoup money from this. The government of Afghanistan does not have the ability to put a major crimp in this, and likely has a few pople in the government participating in the trade one way or another – they will continue on with this and it will continue to have negative consequence for the newly installed government.

  • >Let’s be honest about how much influence Karzai and the Afghanistan
    >government have over the “whole” country. Karzai and his U.S. allies
    >control the capital city, surrounding areas, and in total less than half of
    >Afghanistan.
    .
    There’s a reason why Karzai is refered to by many Afghans as the ‘mayor of Kabul’.
    .

    • Comments are closed.