Why is the United States in Afghanistan?

by Mark Yannone
From yannone.blogspot.com [MORE]

It's hard to believe isn't it? After six years the United States military is still occupying Afghanistan. Supposedly, the US invaded Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his building demolition crew, who wired up three buildings of the World Trade Center for Larry Silverstein.

I know George W. Bush doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about Osama bin Laden (because he said so); nevertheless, how's that going?

Asked about ominous reports such as two prepared by U.S. Marine General Jim Jones, the retired former NATO supreme commander who concluded that Afghanistan might collapse because of the neglect by U.S. and Europe, Major General Marc Lessard, commander of NATO's Regional Command South, agreed that more work needs to be done, but says it's not merely a question of troop numbers.

"I never use the term winning because it too simplistic and does not relate to what we are doing here. A lot of people talk, 'We need more troops, more troops.' I think it is more about better synchronization between security, development, and governance in terms of a comprehensive plan for Afghanistan. My mantra is that we are here to make a difference for the Afghans," said Lessard. "Sometimes Canadians forget that." (1)  
Aha! So the mission in Afghanistan is to make a difference for the Afghans. You would think that they would be well satisfied by producing 93 percent of the world's supply of opium (the principal ingredient of heroin) under the careful watch of US military and NATO forces, wouldn't you? Last year Afghanistan grew a record 477,000 acres of poppies. (2)

Lessard's people run a mentoring program for the Afghan army, teaching ethics and citizenship. Our destruction of Iraq and the murder of two million innocents (with more piling up in the morgues daily) serve as pretty good examples of applied ethics and very good examples of practical citizenship. (3)
"The United States now has a total of about 31,000 troops in Afghanistan, and has been pushing for its NATO allies to step up and also contribute more forces. There is widespread agreement that progress against the Taliban in Afghanistan has stalled, and that more troops and great political efforts are needed to keep the country from slipping back into the status of a failed state." Another 2200 Americans and 700 French are on the way. (4)

According to the UN Mine Action Program in Afghanistan, more than 600 Afghans were killed by landmines and explosives last year. Half of the victims of the mines were under the age of 18 years. Mine initiatives had cleared more than one billion square metres of land across Afghanistan, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. More than 350,000 anti-personnel mines, 19,000 anti-tank mines and millions of pieces of other explosive elements had been destroyed under specific UN programs in the country. (5)
Clearly the United States is making a difference. But there is no mention of Osama bin Laden or his building demolition crew, who wired up three buildings of the World Trade Center so that Larry Silverstein could tell the New York City Fire Department Commander to "pull it."



Since poppies are illegal in Afghanistan, and the best they could do was to produce 93 percent of the world's supply of opium, Afghan farmers turned to growing cannabis, the source of the most popular drug in the world, and most recently had 173,000 acres of it under cultivation. That was enough to make Afghanistan a world leader in cannabis acreage, knocking Morocco down to second place. Not bad, under the circumstances. Morocco was doing $12 billion a year in hashish sales four years ago, so you can imagine what Afghanistan is doing today. (6)

As it turns out, hashish is better than bullets for removing invading troops. When the Afghans make money by selling hashish to New Zealand's invading troops, those troops are sent home to face court martial. Toke up, move 'em out. (7)

So why is the United States in Afghanistan? The best thing Afghans have going for them is record-breaking production of opium and hashish despite the foreign invasion. Just think how well they could do if they weren't occupied and bombed. They don't need our help to grow drugs; they're good at it. We're definitely not looking for Osama, so it's time to leave Afghanistan. And it's long past time to leave Iraq.
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