Afghanistan

So about Afghanistan. You know that country where Al-Qaeda was? How are things going there? Well, fortunately, they must be going great. I mean you don't see a lot of news about Afghanistan, unlike some countries (cough cough, Iraq, cough cough). So I guess everything there must be going great. Or, alternative, we just don't give a damn about Afghanistan and have happily let them drop off our radar. Take your pick.

John Sifton, a human rights worker reported on Afghanistan about a year ago, and the picture he painted wasn't a pretty one.

"Something is rotten in the Islamic State of Afghanistan," an old Afghan is saying to me one night after dinnertime. He is a Kabuli, a local humanitarian worker, and he seems to like making literary jokes. We have just dined together on fried chicken and rice in his small apartment. He is explaining why he is pessimistic about Afghanistan's future.

"The leaders are criminals," he says, referring to Afghanistan's warlords. It is a cool spring night earlier this year, and the old man is sitting on his couch across from me, lecturing me about the past. All of Afghanistan's current military and police leaders, he says, have blood on their hands from past war crimes. Specifically, he refers to the civil fighting in Kabul from 1992 to 1995, detailing how various commanders, including Fahim and Sayyaf, were involved. They killed, he says, and now they rule.

"Like Hamlet's uncle," he says. "But," he continues, "they have no remorse."

And things have continued in that vein since then. Check out this overview of Amnesty International's 2004 Report on Afghanistan.

A deteriorating security situation undermined human rights. Serious human rights abuses and armed conflict continued in many areas. The criminal justice system remained ineffective and was a source of violations rather than a mechanism for providing justice. Women and girls in particular faced discrimination in the justice system. Police lacked pay, training and control structures. Prison conditions were poor. Detainees were held for excessive periods before appearing before a judge. Women and girls faced a high level of violence. Rape and sexual violence by armed groups was reportedly common. Violence in the family, and forced and underage marriage, were widespread.

We invaded Iraq for a lot of reasons. Some of those reasons seem pretty shakey now (like the connections between Iraq and Al-Qaeda or the Weapons of Mass Destruction). But some of them are still relatively plausible. For example the Iraqi people were oppressed by a cruel dictator and were in a rough spot, so it's only human to want to help them out. Or the idea that an Islamic state that embraced Capitalism and Democracy would have a liberating effect throughout the middle east. And of course, now that we have invaded, don't we have a responsibility to help them get back on their feet?

Funny thing, however, the Afghans fit all those criteria too. They were being oppressed by the Taliban, now they are oppressed by the warlords. Rebuilding them into a stable capitalistic democracy would have roughly the same effect as rebuilding Iraq (as near as I can tell). And of course, we did invade Iraq and topple their government.

Plus, according to the CIA world book, Afghanistan is the worlds largest producer of Opium. Perhaps we might have helped them do something to contain that problem, seeing as it affects us as well.

But Afghanistan hasn't been on President Bush's radar screen for quite a while. Pity, really.