So here in Afghanistan it is the squad leader that does all of the same things that a platoon leader does in Iraq. I lead the shurah's (meetings between us and village elders, local police and ANA), I manage the projects that we pay for here and so on. Anyway, the Malik (village leader) in the town I am responsible for pretty much said during a shurah that as long as the US provides money for projects in his town, he can assure security by way of keeping the INS forces away from us. In not so many words he basically said that he has no problem siding wiht the taliban unless we give them money. So basically we are paying for our security. Money is the ONLY motivating factor for these people. Yeah, they are poor, they live in mud huts as the pictures I posted on FB show, they have no electricity, no running water and so on, but why is it that these guys have no problem siding with the same oppressive regime that we ousted 10 years ago. I am reading the book Talaban and for the life of me I cannot figure why they want this type of life back. Beards have to be a certain length, hair cut short or shaved heads, have to wear a turbin at all times, kids are required to attend the madrasa or they are beaten with a stick, women not allowed outside unless accompanied by a male family member, women have to cover themselves from head to toe, etc... Anyway, I feel that this country is pretty much hopeless. The GIROA has absolutely no interest in helping the people of afghanistan unless they belong to specific tribes. After being here for only a little more than a month I have now wondered if we should really be here. Yeah the original idea of getting the people who got us was a nifty one at first, but after seeing first hand that little to nothing has been accomplished I wonder now if staying here a day longer is even worth it. I fully believe that when we leave here the TB are going to take over again and all of the time, money and lives spent/lost here were all for nothing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:339949 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
