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 : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (46327)	5/27/2004 1:31:49 PM
From: malibuca	Respond to of 50167

"Stay the Course" is a mantra that we hear often from Bush when it comes to Iraq. What has been lost in the shuffle is the war in Afghanistan which has been relegated to a lower priority than Iraq with all of the attendant consequences. We heard the same "stay the course" talk during the invasion of Afghanistan – and we have done nothing of the sort – and the Taliban are experiencing a resurgence. A British Parliamentary delegation visited Afghanistan and the link to the article provided below explains the dire situation that now exists. "Afghanistan, the war the world forgot" is an article that elaborates on what is happening there now. Here are excerpts from the article: Three years after the overthrow of the Taleban and George Bush's declaration of victory in the first conflict in the war on terror, Afghanistan is a nation on the edge of anarchy. A devastating indictment of the Allies' failure to help reconstruct the country in the wake of the 2001 conflict is to be delivered in a parliamentary report. The Independent has learnt that an all-party group of MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee has returned from a visit to the country shocked and alarmed by what they witnessed. They warn that urgent action must be taken to save from Afghanistan plunging further into chaos because of Western neglect. As President Bush and Tony Blair unveil their plans today for the future of Iraq through the draft of a new United Nations resolution, the MPs warn that the mistakes of Afghanistan could be repeated with similar tragic consequences in Iraq. Eric Ilsley, a Labour member of the committee, said: "Afghanistan is a basket case. It's a forgotten country." The security situation was so fraught that the committee reported to the Foreign Office that they felt several MPs, including the former minister Gisela Stuart, were in danger during a demonstration in Kabul. The Nato commander in Afganistan, Major General Rick Hillier of the Canadian Army, told the visiting MPs that he had asked for 10 helicopters for his force of more than a thousand but not a single aircraft had been delivered. John Stanley, a former Conservative defence minister, said: "We were told in no uncertain terms by the top Nato general that the situation in delivering Nato expansion in Afghanistan is very disturbing indeed." The Liberal Democrat MP David Chidgey added: "The UK troops are doing a wonderful job but we found only 30 looking after an area the size of Scotland. The Nato commander in the country was tearing his hair out. It's a disgrace. "The inherent danger in allowing the Afghan operation to remain a forgotten theatre means the warlords, funded by drugs profits, will continue to flourish." nzherald.co.nz