Ending the Evil Empire

Resolution: NATO should withdraw from Afghanistan, soon.Cost to NATO: So far, there have been 1,764 private contractors killed in Afghanistan, and nearly 60,000 injured. [10] More than 2,500 NATO soldiers have died there, [11] and many more thousands have been wounded. Congress has spent $345 billion so far on Afghanistan, with $72.3 billion in 2010 alone. [12] That’s many times over the amount that would be necessary to eliminate all extreme poverty everywhere in the world. [19]Afghani Deaths: An estimated 14,000-34,000 Afghani civilians have been killed so far in the war. [13] And the picture hasn’t been improving—2009 was the most lethal year for Afghani civilians since the initial bombings in late 2001, [14] and 2008 was the most lethal year before that. [15] Professor Marc W. Herold estimates that around 8,000 Afghans were killed directly by NATO forces, but notes that this is a “absolute minimum” and likely a “vast underestimate” because it doesn’t include dead among the tens of thousands of refugees displaced by the war, civilian victims in remote mountainous areas with little communication with the outside world, or civilians that were injured and died later due to injuries caused by NATO forces.[16] [17] [18] Drug addiction: There are almost 1 million drug users in Afghanistan—8% of the population 15-64, twice the world average. [1] This has greatly increased during the current war, with regular opium use increasing 53% and regular heroin use increasing 140% from 2005-2009. [1] HIV: In 2007, 61 people tested positive for HIV in Afghanistan (with 2000 more suspected cases), [2] up from only 8 in 2002. [3] It’s estimated that about half of these cases are due to intravenous drug use. [2] It doesn’t seem like much, but not many Americans had HIV in 1980 either. With the increases in IV drug use and prostitution since the invasion, it’s likely that the rate of HIV infection will continue to increase.HDI: The Human Development Index calculates well-being with things like income, life expectancy, education, healthcare, safety, etc. According to Afghanistan’s first National Human Development report published in 2004, "As was expected, the report has painted a gloomy picture of the status of human development in the country after two decades of war and destruction. The Human Development Index (HDI) value calculated nationally puts Afghanistan at the dismal ranking of 173 out of 178 countries worldwide. Yet the HDI also presents us with a benchmark against which progress can be measured in the future." [4] One would think that, from there, there’s pretty much nowhere to go but up—but no. In the 2009 report (data from 2007), Afghanistan was placed 181st out of 182 countries (at .352), having only a slight increase in HDI from 2005-2007 (.005), compared to an average increase in HDI during that same period of .011 for ‘Low Human Development’ countries.[5] The most recent statistics (from 2010) have an HDI value of .349 for Afghanistan. [6] Karzai Government:“Democracy”- The most recent elections in Afghanistan were characterized by widespread violence and fraud. Voters were often intimidated into not voting (turnout for the 2009 election was only 39%), [7] and a staggering 3 million voters on the register roles did not exist. [8] After correcting for fraud, Karzai was found to have won less than 50% of the vote, prompting a runoff. But his opponent, Abdullah Abduallah, dropped out of the race, stating that the runoff would be as bad as the initial election, and Karzai was sworn into office. [9]Liberties- Civil and political liberties in Afghanistan remain severely restricted—Afghanistan was given a ‘Not Free’ ranking by Freedomhouse, with a civil liberty score as bad as China’s. [20] Freedomhouse cited widespread human rights abuses, corruption, and a repressive legal system. [20]Corruption- The main function of Afghani government officials seems to be to accept bribes to get out of people’s way—bribery consumes the equivalent of 23% of Afghanistan’s GDP. [21] Public sector corruption in Afghanistan is ranked 2nd worst in the world. [22]Terrorism: While Western aggression in the Middle East isn’t the sole cause of terrorism, it’s certainly a contributing factor. Even Bush administration war criminal Paul Wolfowitz admits that, “[American] presence [in Saudi Arabia] over the last 12 years has been a source of enormous difficulty for a friendly government. It's been a huge recruiting device for al Qaeda. In fact if you look at bin Laden, one of his principle grievances was the presence of so-called crusader forces on the holy land, Mecca and Medina.” [23] Many Afghans resent American presence in Afghanistan just as much as bin Laden and other Saudis resented American presence in Saudi Arabia—likely more, since America is fighting a war in Afghanistan, rather than just having military bases stationed there, as we did in Saudi Arabia. The 9-11 Commission Report said, “Many Americans have wondered, 'Why do they hate us?' Bin Laden andal Qaeda have answered this question. America is held responsible for the governments of Muslim countries, ridiculed by al Qaeda as 'your (America's) agents,' because of America's support for their countries' repressive rulers.” [24] America’s support for the Karzai government, which is widely considered illegitimate in Afghanistan because of the corrupt and fraudulent elections, fits this perfectly. Islam is often cited as the motivation for terrorism, but political scientist Robert Pape studied every suicide terrorist attack between 1980 and 2004, and found that the country with the most suicide terrorism was the non-Islamic Sri Lanka, by the Tamil Tigers, a non-religious Marxist group that invented the idea of strapping bombs to one’s chest. [25] He found that the countries that are the most radical Islamists, Iran and Sudan, commit no suicide terrorism, and that the most important element in getting someone to commit suicide terrorism was occupation by a foreign force. [25] American occupation of Afghanistan, along with the continued civilian deaths at American hands, is sure to cause hatred of America and inspire terrorism, just as American interventions in the Middle East have in the past. Conclusion: America has spent hundreds of billions of dollars and lost thousands of American lives in the Afghanistan war. And for what? Are we safer? There’s no reason to expect that we are—some terrorists were killed, but many could have been killed without the war (see: bin Laden). And new terrorists are replacing the ones killed, as American occupation and mass murder inspires hatred among the Afghan people. Is Afghanistan better off? By all accounts, no. Tens of thousands dead, many at American hands, many more wounded or displaced by the fighting. Well being, as measured by the Human Development Index, has stagnated among the Afghans that survived the war. The only way one would have a positive view of Afghan development is if you measured well being by the amount of heroin injections and HIV infections. The war in Afghanistan has been failure after failure, and should be ended as soon as possible.[1] http://bit.ly...[2] http://ti.me...[3] http://bit.ly...[4] http://bit.ly...[5] http://bit.ly...[6] http://bit.ly...[7] http://bit.ly...[8] http://bit.ly...[9] http://bbc.in...[10] http://bit.ly...[11] http://bit.ly...[12] http://reut.rs...[13] http://bit.ly...[14] http://nyti.ms...[15] http://bit.ly...[16] http://bit.ly...[17] http://bit.ly...[18] http://bit.ly...[19] http://bit.ly...[20] http://bit.ly...[21] http://bit.ly...[22] http://bit.ly...[23] http://1.usa.gov...[24] 9/11 Commission Report. p51.[25] Robert Pape. Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism