Blair in Afghanistan
November 20th, 2006 by ashish
The British PM visits Afghanistan. While there, he praised the recovery in Afghanistan, credited the Afghan President Hamid Karzai with doing an excellent job. He also committed British troops to be there for the long term (till their jos is done - no definition os when the job will be done). He preached the spiel of democracy. In short, seemed to do everything for nation building and set up Afghanistan as a modern democratic country.
Now for the reality touch. Once the terrorists struck at New York and the Pentagon, and set themselves as the ideal for terrorists who attacked London, Madrid, Bali as well as have a menacing threatening presence, ever ready to attack; there was no option but to overturn the regime in Afghanistan. However, now is when the US and UK are experiencing the impact of not doing the job completely.
Once the Iraq invasion happened, it seemed like the world forgot Afghanistan to a large degree. There was not much effort to reduce the influence of the warlords, poppy growing is at an all time high, and the genteel Karzai is criticized as not much of a doer.
The biggest issue is the influence of Pakistan. It is the country that setup the Taliban, is the breeding ground for most of worldwide terrorism, and continues to sustain the Taliban. As of now, the Taliban has fresh breeding grounds in the border areas of Pakistan, wounded Taliban continue to get recovered in Pakistan, and charge anew to fight the Nato forces and the nascent Afghan army. Until they can exert significant pressure on Pakistan, the Nato troops will continue to fight an uneven battle.
