Afghanistan...

Over the past week or so, I’ve spent some significant time looking at blogs surrounding ongoing issues in Afghanistan. I drew a lot from my readings, but the primary thing that I’ve discovered seems to be a sense of confusion and instability for the redevelopment of the country.

The first thing that pushed me this way was a post by Sanjar in which he explained that potentially half of the aid in Afghanistan ends up in the wrong hands. He points to the police as a major source of the corruption. This seems like quite a challenge… do the police need corrupt funds to keep the people safe? Or is there an element of greed here preventing the lives of everyday people from improving? The later may make more sense as it is claimed that the police have sold vehicles that they're expect to use....

Other sources may confirm this as Carl Robichaud says that 60% of Afghans feel that the country is the most corrupt it has been in the past two decades. Only 45% of these people say that this corruption has had little effect on them. So how is this compounding corruption ended? The situation is certainly complicated…

Later, I read Frida’s post about issues within Afghanistan. She points out the severity of life there after the death of a six year old and the injuries of a four and a twelve year old when a group of US and Afghan soldiers were attacked. More and more scenes like this show that violence is still a pressing issue in Afghanistan. The numbers again confirm this to be true and depressing in terms of civilian casualties.

The most recent news comes from the capture of several journalists by terrorists. After Daniel Mastrogiacomo, an Italian reporter, was exchanged for several captured Taliban, many individuals protested the lack of release of Afghan journalist/interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi. This act seems to have demonstrated some sense of nationalism or at least a need for the Afghan government to protect its people equally.

So what’s next for the Afghans? How will the country continue to grow and develop? From a bigger picture, it seems that more and more people need to be intellectually won over to stopping violence. This violence allows for much of the corruption that exists and ending it (absolutely much easier said than done) may be the key to the future for Afghanistan.