RSS Feed MenuThe results of a recently released Gallup poll suggest that the Afghan democracy project is going worse than expected, if that’s even possible… A few highlights:
- 8 in 10 Afghans believe their country is riddled with widespread corruption….more than half of respondents said they don’t think Hamid Karzai is doing enough to address it.
- Roughly half of respondents said that corruption has worsened since last December. More than a quarter of respondents said that nothing has changed at all.
Gallup conducted this survey in June, before the recent presidential elections. The elections featured the embarrassing spectacle of the United States forcing President Karzai to submit to a second round of voting amid charges of widespread corruption only to see his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, boycott it on the grounds that the run-off too would be corrupt.
The poll results though are astonishing figures that reveal just how little the Afghan people trust the government that they theoretically elected. In light of recent events, it is hard to blame them for wondering whom their government is actually working for. At the very least, the results of this poll suggest that the United States is pouring money and troops into Afghanistan in order to prop up a democratic system that has yielded a government the people don’t trust. At worst, if the Afghans are right and their government is as corrupt as they think, that would mean that U.S. dollars are being misappropriated and some government officials are probably selling their support or willingness to combat the Taliban to the highest bidder. Democracy will fail in Afghanistan if Karzai and company do not get their act together in a hurry and win the trust of the citizens that they should be serving. President Obama must decide whether he believes President Karzai can (or has any intention to) do so. If he believes the answer to this question is no, the United States will have quite a decision on its hands.
balconesfault // Nov 11, 2009 at 8:11 am
Again – as a journalist who has spent a ton of time over in Iraq and Afghanistan put it – after years of bloodshed in Iraq, it was easy to recruit Sunni warlords to help defeat Al Qaeda, because Al Qaeda was killing their people and the warlords hold on power is dependent on them providing security to their people.
The vast majority of Afghans do not view the Taliban as any kind of threat worth fighting against. I suspect that they end up with crooks as their elected leaders because there really isn’t any tradition or particular interest in democracy or a strong central government among most of the people … and thus the only ones interested in taking centralized power are the religious fanatics (the Taliban) or the crooks (the Karzai clan).
rbottoms // Nov 11, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Corrupt government, Americans fighting to preserve it against a indigenous population willing to wait decades if necessary to win, poor Americans doing the fighting and dying for the most part while rich college kids comment about the goings on.
I’ve seen this movie before.
In the sequel however there’s no draft, so certain highly educated partisan supporters of the conflict can cheer on the troops, exhorting them to ever greater glory without any danger they might ever have to be one themselves.
Happy Veterans Day.
balconesfault // Nov 11, 2009 at 9:42 pm
And now, former commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, who is now the US Ambassador, is telling Obama to hold off on sending new troops.
The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai’s government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban’s rise, senior U.S. officials said.
rbottoms // Nov 13, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Afternoon to all the war cheerleaders and Chickenhawks. Want to see how the troops you blithely exhort to go fight the bad guys are living:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/images-of-war.html
Let me know when you decide to join up.
I am glad Obama is thinking long and very hard about sending more young men and women to support a corrupt government. It may be the best worst option, but remember someone is sleeping on the cold ground far away from home as you turn over in your cozy bed tonight. I got out eighteen years ago and a part of me misses the life of knowing someone always had your back when it was your turn to go protect and defend.