Thanks For The Heroin, Mr. President

by gitasatsangha 3 Replies latest members adult

• 

  gitasatsangha

  Bush sent in a woefully unmanned force to Afghanistan. With the aid of the warlords of the Northern Aliance, they succeeded in carting away a few hundred militants to Cuba while the main Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders escaped to wherever they've been living for the last few years. The new Afghanistan government under Karzai is a joke. None of the promised repairs and reconstuction work every really occured. The Afghanistan army is almost nonexistant, basically back to the squabbling warlord gangs that killed so many thousands and which caused the BACKLASH of the Taliban.

  Now they are free to grow opium poppies wherever they choose. There is no one to stop them. The growers ARE the government now. In our forgotten backwater war, the search may still go on for the terrorists, but the job of controlling Afghanistan's cash crop is nonexistant. The Warlords have a newfound wealth, and are able to buy up votes, or else threaten to kill dissenters, in their voting districts, ensuring that the first ever free elections in Afhanistan are a joke.. Meanwhile, in a sign of progress, the first ever television station in Kabul plays its first scheduled programming: a game show in which mean play musical chairs for the grand prize of a case of shampoo.

  And the heroin is making it to the United States and to Brittain. The new stuff is dirt cheap, and is many times more pure then the last go around of smack. A user can get a habit within two or three uses, and will likely be using intraveneously within weeks. Heroin is being marketed to suburban kids this time, sometimes preteens, with understaffed police forces who haven't had much experience with it, and with the budget cutbacks of local governments, there is almost no support structure to tackle Heroin awareness, nor methadone clinics to deal with the addiciton. It won't be long till the junkies start having to rob or put themselves on the street corner to keep the habbit fed. Almost like a flashback, isnt't it?

  The Russians encountered the same problem too, after having their ass delivered to them by the Mujahadeen. The sad thing is, this could have been predicted, and taken into account, but we were too busy, as a nation, gearing up to tackle the Terrorists and WMD's of Iraq.

  Resquiat En Pace, Res Publica
• 

  dubla

  now if wed just legalize and tax it wed be getting somewhere.
• 

  ThiChi

  The New Afghanistan: Progress and Accomplishments
  Delegates to the political party conference on April 17 listen to the keynote speeches. (USAID) Elections: As of 12 May, more than 2.2 million Afghans had registered to vote, 69% of whom are men and 31% women. There are now 356 voter registration sites open in Afghanistan with 684 teams. As voter registration continues, civic education teams organize large-scale community events, and public information teams work with broadcast media to inform Afghans about the opening of new sites in their area and to emphasize the importance of registering. (UNAMA) Political Parties: USAID co-hosted a conference on the role of political parties in Afghan democracy on April 17. More than 400 delegates attended, representing parties spanning Afghanistan's political spectrum. Delegates discussed their role in building democracy, and international officials outlined the voter registration and election process. (USAID) Ground is officially broken on the Jalalabad-to-Asmar Road in a ceremony held in Jalalabad, Nangahar, May 16, 2004. (U.S. Embassy Kabul) Transportation: Construction began May 16 on the 122km Jalalabad-to-Asmar Road. Turning over the first shovels of dirt were Ambassador Khalilzad, Afghanistan Minister of Public Works Engineer Abdullah Ali, Minister of Transportation Ali Jawad and Minister of Rural Development Atmar. The Governor of Nangahar, Haji Din Mohammad, also participated in the ceremony. The road will better connect Nangahar, Kunar and Nuristan Provinces. "It will improve the economic possibilities involving trade of all three provinces, perhaps most dramatically in Nuristan, which has been isolated for centuries," said Ambassador Khalilzad. The U.S.-funded project to construct the Jalalabad-to-Asmar Road is expected to cost an estimated $20 million and is scheduled to be completed mid-year, 2005. (U.S. Embassy Kabul)		Left to right: Ms. Karri Goeldner of USAID, Cochran Fellows Ms. Zaitoon and Ms. Shamshad Sadaf, Deputy Secretary Moseley, Ambassador Khalilzad, and Cochran Fellows Ms. Patooni and Ms. Fakhria. (U.S. Embassy Kabul) Agriculture: Twelve Afghan women will travel to Washington, DC, Missouri and South Dakota for two weeks of agricultural development training under the 2004 Cochran Fellowship Program. They will learn about rural development, American agribusiness practices and marketing principles for products in their home countries. The women will return to Afghanistan better equipped to help restore and expand the productivity of Afghan farms -- a critical component of their country's economic recovery. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Deputy Agriculture Secretary James Moseley met with four of the fellows on April 19. (U.S. Embassy Kabul) Lt. Col. Mohammad Isaq, 1st Battalion commander, was presented an Afghan National Army Defense ribbon, April 26, 2004. (DOD - Staff Sgt. Kelly McCargo) Afghan National Army: More than 300 Afghan National Army soldiers were recognized by the Afghan National Army Central Corps commander during a 1st "Commando" Battalion, 3rd Brigade (Quick Reaction Force) Recognition Ceremony, April 26 at the Pol-e-charki soccer field. On three separate occasions, the commandos successfully repelled ambushes by al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgent forces and coordinated retaliatory assaults, during a force presence mission in southern Afghanistan from February through April. A total of 11 insurgents were killed and 80 were captured, and several tons of weapons and narcotics were seized and subsequently destroyed. (DOD)
• 

  ThiChi

  Progress in Afghanistan

  
  

  The Bonn Accord of 2001, agreed to by a traditional Afghan institution known as a Loya Jirga, laid out an Afghan-driven road map for the drafting of a new constitution and the holding of elections in June 2004. While much work remains to realize these goals, significant inroads have taken place. With a promise for a better future, over 2.5 million Afghan refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to their homes since 2001. Under the leadership of President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan has formed a stable, ethnically balanced government that is working to provide basic services to the Afghan people and interacts constructively with the international community. Another significant step the Afghan government has taken is the introduction of a new currency designed to facilitate and improve financial transactions.

  Development is occurring throughout the country as health clinics are built and roads are repaired. Women have returned to public life. Three million boys and girls have enrolled in newly opened schools. The country?s security, too, is steadier than it has been in decades, thanks in particular to U.S. and coalition troops and increasingly, the presence of U.S.-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the countryside. Over time the newly created Afghan National Army will assume responsibility for maintaining stability, and the Afghan Government has made a firm commitment to a program of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration. As a result of these historic achievements and continuing progress, Afghans can look forward to a more prosperous and secure future.

  The United States and its international partners remain committed to helping Afghans realize their vision for a country that is stable, democratic, and economically successful, and to an Afghan government committed to the protection of women?s rights, human rights, and religious tolerance. So far, Afghanistan has risen to successfully face these challenges, and as a result the world is witnessing the beginnings of a constitutional democratic government, the revival of an entrepreneurial economy, the reemergence of a rich and vital Afghan culture, and the recovery of hope in a people traumatized by decades of war.