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Second Place
Balazs Gardi VII Network
"Afghanistan - Falling Apart" |
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The Taliban is the dominant force in more than half
of Afghanistan. Much of the rural areas, the district centres, the main roads
and huge territories in between were retaken (or sometimes in fact never
lost) by the Taliban since the US led war in 2001. The territory controlled
by the Taliban has increased and the frontline is getting closer to Kabul.
Despite tens of thousands of NATO-led troops and billions of dollars in aid
poured into the country the Taliban effectively blocks or co-opts most
positive development. The Afghan opium production has flourished in the past
two years and now represents 92 percent of the world's supply. This illegal
trade yields an estimated USD 3,000,000,000 that fuels the Taliban, local
warlords and their private armies, and "foreign fighters" who
travel unchecked across Afghanistan's porous borders. Hardly any of this drug
money benefits the larger population. They remain desperately poor, unable to
shake off either the Taliban rule, or rid themselves of the dependence on
opium production. Opium provides the only viable income in many areas. The
central government's Drug Eradication Force is a 600-strong unarmed police
agency that cannot possibly take on a problem of this scale. NATO officials
have openly described their own counter-narcotics efforts as a failure, and
speak of the current approach as one of "strategic patience". The
Taliban have set up a professional network of routes for smuggling drugs and
weapons and they now move almost freely into and around Afghanistan. Although
a ring-road highway was partly built and reconstructed from international aid
to connect the major cities and to foster transportation and trade, the roads
remain completely insecure, and even heavily armed NATO forces are reluctant
to travel on them. Although they are still celebrated as success stories, in
reality they are either controlled or regularly raided by the Taliban.
Suicide bombings, previously unheard of in Afghanistan, are becoming more and
more common. IED incidents have risen eightfold only in the past two years,
including several devastating attacks in the capital. At least 1,200
civilians have been killed in 2007, half in operations carried out by
international or Afghan forces. The international forces perform now four
times as many air strike sorties in Afghanistan than in Iraq. The
construction of new schools is widely cited by American and NATO forces as a
positive step towards winning the hearts and minds of the local populace, and
rebuilding the social fabric of the Afghan society. Yet, in many cases, these
are only symbolic gestures, as schools are subsequently burned down, and
teachers beaten, murdered, or intimidated by the Taliban. In June 2007, Hamid
Karzai was flown in to Ghazni to give a speech to local elders and a wider
audience at one of the largest newly built schools, with a possible capacity
of several thousand students. He offered help, promised to build hospitals
and bring stability to the region. During his 15-minute speech seven rockets
hit the area, marking the third assassination attempt President Karzai
survived so far. All rockets missed their targets, but the school is still
unused today. The teachers were beaten again and nobody dares to defy the
extremists who remain in power in the region. Hamid Karzai, for his part, is
a weak and unpopular leader, often jokingly referred to as "the mayor of
Kabul", and rumors circulate widely that one of his brothers is a key
player in the country's narcotic trade. So far, he has managed to hold on to
power, but his position remains as unstable as Afghanistan itself. The central Afghan province of Bamian, seen from the
air on June 6, 2007 in Afghanistan.
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