Commentary By Ron Beasley
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As Steve pointed out Afghanistan's not so newly discovered mineral wealth will probably lead to even more corruption and the vast majority of the residents of that poor country will not see their lives get any better.
These reserves are very real but they don't help Afghanistan right
now one bit and they're unlikely to really help Afghanistan down
the line since the evidence says that corrupt societies that suddenly
find themselves in possession of mineral wealth only get more corrupt.
So, unless you're willing to encompass the conspiracy theory that the US
invaded Afghanistan, at a cost of $1 trillion and rising fast, so that
one day some corporations might make a few billions (and some will) we
have to ask what was the point of resurrecting this zombie and painting
it up so fine for Mardi Gras?
Over at The Left Coaster Steve Soto explains that Afghanistan's king of corruption. Hamid Karzai, has known about this all along and that may explain his interest in going his own way and negotiating with the Taliban.
Although corrupt and barely in control of anything outside of Kabul, Karzai knows from his days as a consultant for Unocal that American multinationals only want to plunder and let others die to allow for those profits. In addition, he knows the limits of American commitment from the Charlie Wilson days, especially with deficit hawks circling the Obama administration.
He�s beginning to cut his own deals with his enemies in the Taliban and Pakistan�s ISI, rather than stay fully committed to the American game plan in his country, because he knows the only way to fully exploit those resources is with a native solution and not one imposed at the end of NATO or American guns. The Taliban now know that large parts of these reserves are in the border regions they control, so they will fight even harder any outside efforts at plunder. Karzai rightly believes that a political and economic solution is better than a military one, and is simply advancing to the end game, especially with the Chinese and other countries ready to bid for those deposits.
Karzai knows that Europe is going to be pulling out soon and that the US won't be far behind once lawmakers find out we are trying to secure the country so the Chinese can pillage the country. Karzai knows that the west can't beat the Taliban in the border areas and his only hope is to strike a deal with them. Lets start reducing the budget deficit and get out before anymore American blood is shed.
Agreed, but the rationality rules it out...
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