The Summer of Violence and Corruption
by Shannon Geis
A suicide car bomb exploded at the beginning of July 2008 just outside of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The bomb killed 41 people, including officials at the Indian Embassy, members of the Afghani government, and civilians. It was the deadliest bombing in Afghanistan since the US invasion in 2001. This attack tops off the deadliest month for US and coalition troops in the country since the conflict began 7 years ago. US casualties in Afghanistan have exceeded US casualties in Iraq for the first time since 2003.
This is evidence that the current situation in Afghanistan is worsening. The Taliban is resurging and becoming an increasingly forceful presence within the country. With the US focus on Iraq, the effort in Afghanistan has become increasingly under resourced. Although the US is increasing the number of troops in the country, it could be too little too late. This is especially true considering many of the other NATO coalition forces are unable or unwilling to send in extra troops to aid the effort.
US military officials have identified two separate insurgencies gaining power within Afghanistan. Although these insurgencies are separate they have extremely common goals and both are strongly linked to the Taliban. The Taliban, after being nearly defeated in the US invasion, has been able to build their base back up. There are several reasons why this has been possible.
One important factor in the resurgence of the Taliban is the problem of corruption within the newly established government. While the government made great strides in the beginning, it has not overcome many of the hurdles it needed to clear in order to be successful. Large numbers of citizens do not have access to health care or clean drinking water. In Kabul, considered to be the safest city in Afghanistan, most people don’t have access to basic utilities. Many of the government officials are corrupt, working off of bribes and using aid money for themselves. Some politicians have promised to fix the corruption. However, because the corruption has not gone down recently, citizens have a hard time believing the politicians and take these promises as empty promises.
The region with the biggest corruption problem is the Helmland. The region’s main source of wealth is growing illegal poppies. Corrupt officials take bribes from the farmers of this region claiming to help the farmers with the money they are paid. The Taliban and professional drug traffickers also profit from this region and these farmers. The Taliban controls much of the Helmland and takes around 10% of the farmers' profits as taxes.
Because of the high costs in producing most other products, farmers in the Helmland don't have many options in planting crops. And because bad weather and violence have been ruining the crops in recent years, the corrupt government and the Taliban have been taking most of the profit farmers have been making from their crops, leaving them with barely enough to support their families.
The most serious and prominent reason for the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, however, is the safe haven that has been created in the tribal lands of Pakistan due to the negligence of the Pakistani government. Afghani government officials and US military officials alike have concluded that the Taliban cannot be stopped as long as they have a base in Pakistan. Without strong cooperation from the Pakistani government, eradicating these bases is difficult.
The bombing of the Indian Embassy also shows how problems from surrounding countries have flooded the borders. Although the Taliban has rejected claims that it was involved with the car bombing, the Taliban has close ties with Pakistan and an animosity has long existed between Pakistan and India. It seems that Pakistan has started to consider Afghanistan its backyard, another section of Pakistan. So if the Afghani government builds ties with India, which it has, the Pakistani government does not approve.
All of these factors have created the increasing violence occurring in Afghanistan today and to stop the violence and the fighting, all of these issues must be addressed. But to do that properly, a large amount of both troops and diplomacy are required; more perhaps than either the US or any other coalition forces can afford or would be willing to send. Until we can invest that much, the Afghanis will continue to deal with increasing violence and unbearable conditions.
