Afghanistan Report Card

[Geee]

American Spectator:

The Associated Press discovered this month that residents of Helmand province — and presumably elsewhere in Afghanistan — are “afraid to go out after dark because of marauding bands of thieves.” The key word is bands. This means organized gangs are harassing civilians in attempts to steal money and goods. This criminal activity is reportedly to be the result of a failure of the Americans and their allies to keep the Afghan populace safe from what is referred to as “crime and corruption.” At least that’s the AP’s reading of the situation.

Ah, for the good old days of the Taliban who cut off the hands of thieves they captured. At least, according to AP, that’s supposedly what one hears when visiting Helmand these days. These and other news sources report the local police are running protection rackets, taking bribes for minor offenses, and stealing when they can’t coerce voluntary payments. And this is all supposedly an indication of the futility of eleven years of war. The problem is that in many parts of Afghanistan it’s not far from the truth.

What is most disturbing is that none of this is new. It’s certainly not the fault of ISAF troops’ inadequacy in policing. That was never their primary job. NATO civilian leaders, however — especially in the U.S. and UK — tried hard to create the impression that the billions spent on war fighting also had a target of providing a framework of “civil improvement.” From the outset Afghanistan was seen as suffering from either strict Sharia justice by the Taliban and/or local law enforcement by warlords exploiting the population in exchange for keeping the peace.