Cost of War
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Obama and Afghanistan 1 year later
I was in Afghanistan on the day they announced Obama's victory. There was a glimmer of hope, a sparkle in the eye and whispers of change within the Afghan population.
A year later the situation is no better, actually it is dramatically worse for everyone. Operation Enduring Freedom is costing the American tax payer $67 million per day [$771 per second]. International military casualties are at an all time high and an average of 3 Afghan dies every day from conflict related incidents.
Now the Taliban has a presence in more than 80% of the country. [When they offer a poor rural farmer double the salary the government does, you can't blame them for joining.]
The ace in the hand for the Taliban is the increase in civilian casualties from careless bombing raids by international forces. This waste of countless innocent lifes along with a corrupt invested government and rigged elections is slowly the ostracises the population. No one carries that sparkle in their eye anymore......
I was in Afghanistan on the day they announced Obama's victory. There was a glimmer of hope, a sparkle in the eye and whispers of change within the Afghan population.
A year later the situation is no better, actually it is dramatically worse for everyone. Operation Enduring Freedom is costing the American tax payer $67 million per day [$771 per second]. International military casualties are at an all time high and an average of 3 Afghan dies every day from conflict related incidents.
Now the Taliban has a presence in more than 80% of the country. [When they offer a poor rural farmer double the salary the government does, you can't blame them for joining.]
The ace in the hand for the Taliban is the increase in civilian casualties from careless bombing raids by international forces. This waste of countless innocent lifes along with a corrupt invested government and rigged elections is slowly the ostracises the population. No one carries that sparkle in their eye anymore......
