Afghanistan: West Fails to Deliver

Recently President Obama and other Western Leaders have announced the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan. In my view this implies nothing but an acknowledgment of a huge failure on our side.

There is a fact our politicians have to deal with: US and European public opinion considers the war is lost, and with upcoming elections on both sides of the Atlantic, they are trying to give satisfaction to as many constituents as possible. This will mean the end to 10 years of involvement, 130,000 military personnel, 48 countries, and 2,600 dead of which 1,600 Americans.

So roughly ten years after the conflict began, USA and Europe will leave behind a country still torn by corruption, armed struggle, feudalism and an ever-thriving drug business. But Bin Laden´s death is providing the excuse ( alibi?), and the apparent disarray of Al Qaeda seems to justify abandoning the theatre of operations.

The real problem is that nobody managed or even wanted to grasp the real nature of the Afghan conflict. From a military point of view, results are feeble at best. General Petraeus recently quoted a 3-5% reduction in insurgent attacks in June of this year. These attacks have nevertheless experimented a growth in boldness and efficiency, as the assassination of Ahmed Vali Karzai proves.

The West has decided to further finance the security services, to the point that the Afghans, who still have no running water or electricity for the most part, have the Army and the Police as only credible employers in the country.

Corruption is so large and extended, that billions of dollars in foreign aid have been “ lost” on the way and have ended in the pockets of the current Afghan leadership and their partners abroad. Internally, according to UNODC numbers published in Vienna, local Afghan citizens have paid out some 23% of the country’s GDP in bribes to officials.

President Karzai has no real alternative that the West can foresee, even though he only controls a small portion of the country, while the rest of the territory is in the hands of the Taliban, the Warlords (allies of the Government in theory) or is immersed in violence with no clear winner.

The country’s main source of income is foreign aid and opium, which is funny for a conflict that started with the reduction of the drug problem as one of the main objectives. In 2011, exports of opium have grown to their highest level yet.

In conclusion, another total failure for the West. We went in to help the local population achieve their “ aspirations of democracy and welfare”. But as said, the majority still doesn’t have access to electricity, education, health services or adequate housing, and women and ethnic minorities are no better off than before the invasion.

Globally there is no major improvement in regional stability, and terrorism is in no way defeated. And now we learn from sources in NATO and the US Administration that the real problem and attention is shifting to Pakistan!

In essence, we have learned nothing from the British and Soviet Empires and their own total failures in Afghanistan.