Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NickSE who wrote (113841)	9/3/2003 8:40:54 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Respond to of 281500

<How do you propose we stop the incursions...build a fence along the Pak-Afghan border?> That is why we are losing in Afghanistan, because that is the kind of "solution" Americans come up with, for these problems: barriers, control, force, violence. More bombs, more fences, more death, that isn't going to win. The way to win, in Afghanistan, is very simple, and we are incapable of doing it: Go into the communities that support the Taliban, listen politely to the people there, figure out why they support our enemies, and then figure out how to meet those needs without the violence and religious fundamentalism of the Taliban. Treat them as equals, treat them with dignity and respect. Treat them as if we considered them human. <Karzai's government steams ahead towards a binding national constitution, and their economy shows strong growth....> That election, if it's held at all, will be held under the guns of the warlords. The only growth industry in Afghanistan is opium poppy growing. The place has no functioning economy, no functioning national army or government. From your link: <The World Bank had tentatively estimated last year's growth at 10 per cent, although it cited a lack of data.> In other words, nobody has any idea, because the place is so chaotic, nobody has any reliable statistics. 30% is an Afghan "government" spokesman's hopeful guess, an expression of loyal optimism. Like Enron 10-K filings. They will be announcing victories, right up till the Taliban retake Kabul. Just like the S. Vietnamese government did.

To: NickSE who wrote (113841)	9/4/2003 4:41:55 PM
From: Elsewhere	Respond to of 281500

Afghan economy gains strength In all areas :-) Wall Street Journal September 4, 2003 Kabul Is Quick to Import Headache From West: Traffic Once Rare, Cars, Trucks, Taxis Now Clog Afghanistan's Capital By PHILIP SHISHKIN, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL KABUL, Afghanistan -- German highway patrolman Wilhelm Borgert honked at a beat-up white sedan trying to cut in front of his jeep. "This is a one-way street, but you always have cars coming the other way," said Mr. Borgert, here to advise the Afghan government on police reform. He has started driving the wrong way himself, he says: "It's faster." Under the Taliban, the streets of Kabul -- some paved, some not -- carried an occasional pickup truck loaded with armed men but relatively little other traffic. Barely two years later, and with the population swelling, the Afghan capital has about 90,000 registered cars and 33,000 taxis, plus buses, trucks, cars from the provinces and cars without license plates. Kabul's new car culture reflects the disarray of a city roiled by sweeping social and economic change and pervading instability. The massive explosion of traffic has filled the air with exhaust, overwhelmed the road network and the police force. Still, the system seems to have developed its own logic. "It's like chaos theory," said Mr. Borgert. "Things somehow organize themselves." ... online.wsj.com