Things look good to you, because you have not paid any attention to Afghanistan, unlike Ahmed Rashid (Cf. "Afghanistan Imperiled" [14 Oct 2002]) and others.
"Terrorists Behind Bomb Blast at Southern Afghanistan School, Education Officials Say" (20 Oct 2002), <http://www.komotv.com/911/d7mpab5o0.html>.
"Grenades Kill Two at Afghan Wedding (20 Oct 2002): "KABUL, Afghanistan - Grenades were hurled at a wedding party on Friday, killing two people and wounding 40, state television reported yesterday...," <http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/293/nation/Grenades_kill_two_at_Afghan_wedding+.shtml>.
"Rivals in Southeast Afghanistan Resume Fighting" (18 Oct 2002), <http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/3246209>.
"Unicef Denounces Violent Attacks On Schools In Afghanistan" (18 Oct 2002): "Reacting to the burning of a number of schools recently in Afghanistan, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) strongly condemned those violent acts and urged action to protect the freedom of all boys and girls to learn...," <http://www.europaworld.org/week101/unicef181002.htm>.
"A Closer Look: Fortress Afghanistan -- Arming the Warlords First" (17 Oct 2002): "BAGRAM, Afghanistan - U.S. troops are giving confiscated weapons and ammunition to warlords in Afghanistan, a practice that critics say strengthens private militias and undermines attempts to establish a national army...," <http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/1974127p-2076505c.html>.
Etc.
The US government merely maintains the disorder that is Afghanistan -- the disorder achieved at the cost of deaths of thousands of Afghan civilians and destruction of US civil liberties and international law, with over 21,000 bombs <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/weekinreview/13SCHM.htm>.
What's really brilliant is that the US government succeeded in moving Al Qaeda from Afghanistan (a non-nuclear state) to Pakistan (a nuclear state) and fired up many Pakistanis into supporting an Islamist alliance in the recent election:
***** Pakistan's election
Oh, what a lovely ally Economist Oct 17th 2002 | LAHORE
An anti-American grouping makes important gains that are likely to embarrass President Musharraf
"AMERICANS are the killers, the butchers, the murderers," observes the mild mannered but plain speaking secretary-general of Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami party, Syed Munawar Hassan. The views of Mr Hassan and his party are not new. Like much of the Muslim world they are convinced that the United States and Israel have formed a tag team for the purpose of oppressing Muslims, a belief fanned into fury by the American bombing of Afghanistan, Israel's assaults on Palestinians and now the threat of war against Iraq.
Until now, such views could be treated as dissent, blasting Pakistan's pro-western policies without injuring them. Pakistan has been among the most valuable members of the American-led coalition against terrorism. Last week's general election may have changed that. The MMA grouping of religious parties, including Jamaat-i-Islami, stormed from the fringes of Pakistani politics into the centre, positioning themselves to govern two of Pakistan's four provinces and winning more seats in the national parliament than they have ever done. There is a chance that this group will be part of the coalition in charge of the central government.
Opposition to Pakistan's anti-terrorist alliance with the United States was the centrepiece of their campaign and will be their top priority in government, says Mr Hassan. The two provinces they look set to govern, North West Frontier Province and Balochistan, blur into Afghanistan. They are prime hunting grounds for refugee members of al-Qaeda, including, perhaps, Osama bin Laden. George Bush and Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, must now be wondering what the religious parties can do to sabotage the hunt. They are not the only ones in shock. The days of freedom of expression in parliament are behind us, laments Aitzaz Ahsan, a leader of the centrist Pakistan People's Party. He recalls that in 1999 a handful of fundamentalist senators so intimidated their colleagues that only four voted for a resolution condemning honour killings of women who had eloped. Will tradition now smother modernity?
India, Pakistan's perennial enemy, is also worried. Its foreign minister, Yashwant Sinha, called the gains of the religious parties a bad signal. How much closer will fundamentalists get to controlling Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear weapons? The rise of the religious parties is the sum of some fears, not all of them. It brings an illiberal, anti-American element to the centre of Pakistan's political arena, which cannot but complicate the war on terrorism. General Musharraf, who tried, though not very consistently, to curb the influence of religion in public life in the three years since seizing power in a coup, will probably stop trying....
The vote for the MMA is not a vote for beards, burqas, and jihad, wrote one columnist, but rather a vote against imperialism and indignity. And against political fat-cats, some of whom shifted from the mainstream parties to General Musharraf's PML(Q). The new affection could be strengthened by war in Iraq, or weakened by incompetent government, which would not be surprising with so many newcomers in the assemblies. Blacking out cable stations could alienate people. People love to see Indian movies, even in the villages, says Haji Muhammad Adeel, a candidate whose pro-American party was decimated by the MMA. After one or two years will everything return to normal? Not quite. General Musharraf has had three years to set Pakistan firmly on the road to modernisation. The elections confirm that he has failed.
<http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1398673> ***** -- Yoshie
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