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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: NickSE who wrote (5751)8/23/2003 12:19:38 PM
From: KyrosL  Read Replies (1) of 793640
 
the new American plan would boost assistance in Afghanistan by $1 billion a year

Those of us that have been crying for such an aid increase for more than a year have been ridiculed by the "up by their bootstraps" contingent. Of course, by now, $1 billion is too little too late for Afghanistan. The Taliban are resurgent, the government controls Kabul only and even that control is getting shaky. Our troops essentially control only their bases and a few surrounding miles. The main economic activity is heroin production, which has reached new highs -- twenty times what it was under the Taliban.

My theory is that the need for aid in a nation-building endeavor increases geometrically, the longer we wait after the regime-change combat ends. The need in Iraq is by now in the $10s of billions -- up from maybe $5 billion when "major combat" ended in April. By the time the administration wakes up, we will not be able to afford Iraq, and Carl Rove will be desperately scrambling for a spin to save the reelection.
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