An Afghan Reconstruction Horror Story
August 25, 2009 9:17 AM   Subscribe

An Afghan Reconstruction Horror Story A sad look at the lack of progress in reforming Afghanistan's infrastructure.
posted by reenum (9 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
> ...Atash decided to leave Afghanistan.

Sadly, that's really the best solution for all concerned.
posted by you just lost the game at 9:46 AM on August 25, 2009


I'm interested in this sort of subject, but this article was incredibly badly written. Journalists are supposed to know the basics of grammar and the fundamentals of clear and concise writing. When an article such as this one makes it all the way to "publication" with so little attention paid to the fundamental awkwardness of the writing, I'm immediately suspect.

And consequently, I did research on the website hosting this article, www.newmajority.com. It turns out that this "exciting new website" (as they put it) was started by a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, who seeks to expand the Republican Party base by alliances with other websites such as hiphoprepublican.com and others. While I welcome most any change to the Republican Party (I figure they can't get much worse), it's sad to see that this particular website manages to continue the Republican tradition of piss-poor planning, execution and professionalism.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 10:10 AM on August 25, 2009 [1 favorite]


new majority has been popping up a log on the blue recently, for better or worse
posted by Think_Long at 10:36 AM on August 25, 2009


Excellent (and depressing) article—thanks for posting it.
posted by languagehat at 10:57 AM on August 25, 2009


This article is poorly written and I suspect poorly fact checked. Check out the Truman article which is really a short, self referential paragraph that points to history and facts without bothering to cite either.
posted by aquathug at 11:35 AM on August 25, 2009


Rich businessman tries his hand at running a national airliner in a developing country, but is done in by local politics. It might be bad for the country, but I would hardly call it a tragedy. All business at this level are going to have to be managed in a political way.

They also called Afghanistan part of the "Middle East" which is a big red flag, Afghanistan is in central Asia, not the Middle east.
posted by delmoi at 12:34 PM on August 25, 2009


Afghanistan is a failed state and a narcostate that exports more heroin than the Golden Triangle. Karzai is a sick joke and his brother is on the level of Saddam Hussein's son's.
Bush, Cheney, Feith, Rumsfeld, et al are initially to blame but Obama, th ecandidate I voted for, continues their failed policies. So American policy is consistent - we support the worst leaders and spend enormous domestic resources - most imporatantly our children - to get nothing but eventual violent expressions of resentment to our policies. This is the country we live in.
If anyone wonders why they hate us just read up on who you voted for - the best choice among piles of shit is not the answer.
I live in nyc and witnessed 9/11 very closely - it was a total violation and criminal act on a grand and horrible scale but can we really be surprised? We have been visiting slow motion destruction on a grander scale on many countries for years. Guatemala, Chile, Iran, the Philippines, Cambodia, Jamaica, Haiti, ....
posted by hooptycritter at 4:27 PM on August 25, 2009


I don't see how it follows that withdrawal of the US military would suddenly make Afghanistan into a successful state and/or export less heroin.
posted by Caviar at 10:19 AM on August 26, 2009


Caviar,
You're absolutely right - but continuing to pour billions of dollars into a failed stae to futrther aid corruption is certainly not helping th eus or Afghanistan. Logic, logic is important. you reasoning is a great example of Post hoc ergo propter hoc, a basic logical fallacy.

A worse fallacy is thinking that by sacrificing more American blood and treasure then surely the situation will improve.
posted by hooptycritter at 2:21 PM on August 26, 2009


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