2RHPZ
05-30-2004, 04:14 AM
Don't Make Alliances With Warlords !
May 28th, 2004, 10:07am
HAmed Karzai Should Understand Clearly What Will be the Consequences of an Alliance with the Warlords !
*
Warlords Pose Threat in Afghanistan *
26. May 2004, 23:10 *
WASHINGTON (AP) - Donor countries are showing more generosity lately toward Afghanistan, but the international largesse may prove meaningless unless the country's continued violence can be controlled. *
*
American officials are pleased with the trend in assistance promises. Privately, however, they are critical of Arab countries for reneging on aid pledges made more than two years ago. *
*
Most worrisome for U.S. officials and congressional leaders is the continued threat posed by regional warlords and their heavily armed militias. *
*
"Without bringing security to Afghanistan, nothing else is possible," says Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. *
*
Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group, a research foundation, says security in Afghanistan "affects everything from elections to reconstruction. ... This is not a post-conflict situation; an unrelenting battle continues in Afghanistan." *
*
More than 2 1/2 years after the demise of the Taliban rule, regional warlords battle constantly over turf and narcotics trafficking. *
*
In Washington, there is strong bipartisan support for helping Afghanistan, which spawned al-Qaida and the Taliban, so it does not descend into an anarchic haven for terrorists again. *
*
President Hamid Karzai says the first national elections, set for September, could be jeopardized unless the private militias that control much of the country are disarmed. *
*
On the plus side, donor countries pledged $8.2 billion for Afghanistan at a conference last month in Berlin. A U.S. commitment of $2.2 billion for 2004 was supplemented with promise of $400 million by Japan over two years, $391 million from Germany over four years, $850 million from the European Union for 2004 and $900 million by Britain over five years. *
*
That is more than was pledged at a similar conference in Tokyo two years earlier, said Barnett Rubin of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. *
*
"If the pledges are fulfilled, it will go a long way toward correcting the financial neglect from which Afghanistan has suffered," Rubin said. *
*
But James Dobbins, an analyst at the Rand think tank and a former State Department expert on nation-building, is less impressed. *
*
He says $8.2 billion over three years "works out to $100 per Afghan per year - not bad - but Kosovo got four times more after just 11 weeks of bombing, and Bosnia seven times more after two." *
*
Dobbins points out that various Afghan wars have lasted for more than 20 years. *
*
U.S. officials cite the accomplishments of outside aid: 25 million school textbooks distributed, 203 schools constructed or rebuilt, 140 health clinics rehabilitated and 4.26 million children vaccinated against measles and polio. *
*
They also highlight the restoration of the war-ravaged, 310-mile Kabul-Kandahar highway. That trip, once a bone-jarring 12-hour adventure, now takes about four hours. *
*
But no one doubts the distance the world's second-poorest country has to travel. *
*
A recent study by the NYU center says average life expectancy is 43 years and that one out of four children dies before age 5. *
*
On the economic front, opium poppy, the raw material for heroin, is the country's principal growth industry. According to the United Nations, Afghanistan accounts for three-quarters of the world's illicit opium production. Karzai has pledged to cut the poppy crop by 25 percent. *
*
But for Afghans and their American patrons, security is the major concern. Barnett describes the level of international security assistance to Afghanistan as "pathetic." The NATO-led troop commitment is 6,000-strong and is deployed mostly in Kabul. The perceived dangers inhibit a more robust presence. *
*
The United States has about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them attempting to hunt down remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban in the border area with Pakistan. *
*
Biden says that on security matters, the Afghan forces are still neophytes. He cites the scant progress toward the goal of disarming 40,000 of the nation's 100,000 warlord militiamen by June 30. *
*
As of the first week in May, Biden says, "the number who had been disarmed was exactly zero."
May 28th, 2004, 10:07am
HAmed Karzai Should Understand Clearly What Will be the Consequences of an Alliance with the Warlords !
*
Warlords Pose Threat in Afghanistan *
26. May 2004, 23:10 *
WASHINGTON (AP) - Donor countries are showing more generosity lately toward Afghanistan, but the international largesse may prove meaningless unless the country's continued violence can be controlled. *
*
American officials are pleased with the trend in assistance promises. Privately, however, they are critical of Arab countries for reneging on aid pledges made more than two years ago. *
*
Most worrisome for U.S. officials and congressional leaders is the continued threat posed by regional warlords and their heavily armed militias. *
*
"Without bringing security to Afghanistan, nothing else is possible," says Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. *
*
Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group, a research foundation, says security in Afghanistan "affects everything from elections to reconstruction. ... This is not a post-conflict situation; an unrelenting battle continues in Afghanistan." *
*
More than 2 1/2 years after the demise of the Taliban rule, regional warlords battle constantly over turf and narcotics trafficking. *
*
In Washington, there is strong bipartisan support for helping Afghanistan, which spawned al-Qaida and the Taliban, so it does not descend into an anarchic haven for terrorists again. *
*
President Hamid Karzai says the first national elections, set for September, could be jeopardized unless the private militias that control much of the country are disarmed. *
*
On the plus side, donor countries pledged $8.2 billion for Afghanistan at a conference last month in Berlin. A U.S. commitment of $2.2 billion for 2004 was supplemented with promise of $400 million by Japan over two years, $391 million from Germany over four years, $850 million from the European Union for 2004 and $900 million by Britain over five years. *
*
That is more than was pledged at a similar conference in Tokyo two years earlier, said Barnett Rubin of the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. *
*
"If the pledges are fulfilled, it will go a long way toward correcting the financial neglect from which Afghanistan has suffered," Rubin said. *
*
But James Dobbins, an analyst at the Rand think tank and a former State Department expert on nation-building, is less impressed. *
*
He says $8.2 billion over three years "works out to $100 per Afghan per year - not bad - but Kosovo got four times more after just 11 weeks of bombing, and Bosnia seven times more after two." *
*
Dobbins points out that various Afghan wars have lasted for more than 20 years. *
*
U.S. officials cite the accomplishments of outside aid: 25 million school textbooks distributed, 203 schools constructed or rebuilt, 140 health clinics rehabilitated and 4.26 million children vaccinated against measles and polio. *
*
They also highlight the restoration of the war-ravaged, 310-mile Kabul-Kandahar highway. That trip, once a bone-jarring 12-hour adventure, now takes about four hours. *
*
But no one doubts the distance the world's second-poorest country has to travel. *
*
A recent study by the NYU center says average life expectancy is 43 years and that one out of four children dies before age 5. *
*
On the economic front, opium poppy, the raw material for heroin, is the country's principal growth industry. According to the United Nations, Afghanistan accounts for three-quarters of the world's illicit opium production. Karzai has pledged to cut the poppy crop by 25 percent. *
*
But for Afghans and their American patrons, security is the major concern. Barnett describes the level of international security assistance to Afghanistan as "pathetic." The NATO-led troop commitment is 6,000-strong and is deployed mostly in Kabul. The perceived dangers inhibit a more robust presence. *
*
The United States has about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan, most of them attempting to hunt down remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban in the border area with Pakistan. *
*
Biden says that on security matters, the Afghan forces are still neophytes. He cites the scant progress toward the goal of disarming 40,000 of the nation's 100,000 warlord militiamen by June 30. *
*
As of the first week in May, Biden says, "the number who had been disarmed was exactly zero."