Afghanistan is Where the Terrorists Are... Posted by Adam Blickstein

...But Our Troops are in Iraq

In the first of a series of documents the National Security Network is developing on Afghanistan, NSN released a report today examining how the Bush Administration's almost singular focus on Iraq negatively impacts our efforts in Afghanistan. The report can be found here, and below is a chart further fleshing out the disparity in focus from the Administration between Iraq and Afghanistan:

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[Don Bacon]

Afghanistan is Where There is a Humanitarin Crisis

According to Oxfam, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is "comparable with sub-Saharan Africa," and U.S. and NATO troops find themselves in the middle of a war with a significant section of the population.

news report: Food shortages in Ajristan District of Ghazni Province, central Afghanistan, have forced some families to eat dried grass in order to survive, local people and the district administrator told IRIN.

"Many families in Ajristan are eating different kinds of dried grass and vegetables like alfalfa, which are normally given to cattle, due to food shortages and extreme poverty," said Raz Mohammad Hemat, the district administrator.

The futility of the Afghanistan operation is obvious.

"The Taliban is growing and creating new alliances not because its sectarian religious practices have become popular, but because it is the only available umbrella for national liberation," says Pakistani historian and political commentator Tariq Ali. "As the British and the Soviets discovered to their cost in the preceding two centuries, Afghans never like being occupied."

In a blow to the current push for more troops, the Netherlands decided it would withdraw all its soldiers by 2010. " The Dutch decision," says the German newspaper Der Spiegel, "may set a precedent, raising concerns among NATO military leaders over a possible domino effect. If only one major NATO country yields to domestic pressure and decides to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, it could set off an avalanche."

Afghanistan needs more food, not more foreign troops.