I received this email from Australia about our activity in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
“In my opinion, Afghanistan is a lost cause. I have been there several times
in the late 70s and it was an eye-opener. The Germans had invested quite a
bit of aid money in infrastructure (Hitler thought the Afghans were the true
Aryans) but it was really primitive. Rich Afghans were educated in Europe,
mainly Germany. Elections were on a show of hands and if the results
weren’t what President (he was a cousin of the King he deposed) wanted, then
all bets were off. People washed and performed their toilet in the river,
which was also where they washed carpets, goats drank and all manner of
other things. Streets weren’t named, nor were houses numbered and for
ordinary people, if they needed to write a letter, they went to a man in the
street who sat at an ancient Underwood typewriter and wrote it for them.
It really is a barren country and goats have eaten almost all the vegetation
(they eat roots and all). Aside from opium, they have no exports or
marketable skills.
If you look back at history, no one has been able to conquer Afghanistan.
The Brits tried and failed in the 19th century and of course the Russians
failed in the 1980s – despite having contiguous borders in what was the old
USSR, with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Historically, the
Afghans have just waited-out the invaders, who really had nothing to stay
for. Corruption is a way of life and is unlikely to change quickly.
The quicker the Allied forces get out of there the better. The real
conundrum is what to do about Pakistan. It is run by the Military, they
have nuclear bombs and it is totally corrupt. There’s plenty of evidence
that says that Taliban Central is in Pakistan, rather than Afghanistan.”
Do you agree?