I must say, Arthur, these must be the bravest people on earth, these reporters working on an FM radio station in Afghanistan, after the reports this week and your detailed analysis. This is becoming a nightmare scenario, and when the ruling class is going about its business by killing women sleeping in bed in the night, well, this is a place to wipe off the dust from your shoes and boots and get out.

More disturbing still, the idea the place is currently enjoying one of those 'respites' from the worst of it. In other words, we are supposed to believe there is progress from our efforts, but lately this has become a hard sell. Canadians don't usually measure progress in a body count their own soldiers and foreign journalists. This one is dirty. I think I'll relax and watch a Frank Sinatra/Sammy Davis Jr musical hit tonight. Take an aspirin. so forth.

$6 billion farm gate prices in Afghanistan ? This is not drug addicts merely heartless money grubbing addicts .
If the white powder is cut 100 times that would be $600 billion . These poor money men must now add the cost of doing business and a small profit margin as they live in more developed and costly economies .
This is white gold and much more profitable than Texas Tea .

Yes, and while criminals in Karzai's court rake in their heroin profits, civil servants get by on salaries of $50 a month. Afghan broadcasters, as you'll see tomorrow, are forced to bankroll their own stations because of the lack of a viable advertising market. Yet they're on the air and eager to move forward, like the vast majority of their countrymen.

The determination and faith of the Afghan people, in spite of the chronic corruption and violence all around them, is the only true basis of hope for the future. But we've got to get in there and help people like Mirwais and his team at Watandar - and the millions of people who rely on their signal.

repost from last thread but relevant.

Just so you know when pressed by Alexa yesterday about Joya's expulsion, Barbie* made it quite clear in committee that Canada's New Government (TM) has no intention of commenting on the inner workings, as it were, of the Afghan government.

The blackbox defense. They've used it before. Canada is officially a hero without a clue.

fwiw, I've developed a tendency to go easy on opposition when it comes to raising issues about what's going on and not. I'd get a little sick of being told I don't support the troops myself. For all the press it doesn't get I can understand them being inclined to think its not worth the aggrevation.

*= http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp?id=79

Arthur, I just wanted to draw your attention back to an earlier comment I made (June 1) and some of the responses it generated, including yours. My comment, which referenced Malalai Joya, prompted a vitriolic statement by Aysha wherein she attacked Mrs Joya as unladylike, embarrassing, disgraceful..etc. Aysha's comment was supported by Mojaheed Dost, who added that Mrs Joya shamed Afghan women. Arthur, in your response you honeyed their words and implied that they had said they would like Mrs Joya's parliamentary efforts to be more effective. The people who have expelled Mrs Joya from parliament, or those who would like to see her dead, do not do so because the want her to be more effective in fighting for the rights of Afghans. In light of these recent murders I wonder if Aysha and Mojaheed Dost would like to comment on the rights of women to work as journalists? Aysha, were these journalists speaking for the women of Afghanistan before they were killed, or were they also a disgrace?

$600 billion eh, why that puts Afghanistan at the top of the G-8

http://www.firstnations.20fr.com

Afghan drug lord share $6 billion .
Europe / North American drug lords put up this $6 billion . Once they have this heroin powder in their home country labs they can cut it at least 100 times thus the $600 billion figure . As there is no narcotic control boards who knows what happens next .
This $600 billion is only a starting figure for heroin . Now add the figures for cocaine , crystal meth , wacky tobaccy , legal pharmicuticals .
Victoria BC has a major problem with parking meters losing money . Ever buy theft insurance ? Prostitution ,home break ins , gangs shooting each other .
Harper can't pass a decent House of Commons accountability act , wants to fight crime by building stockades in northern Canada and his #1 priority is reforming a senate that is not broken .
No wonder Harper limits access of the free press and tells skyreporter no comment .

I take it, Keith, you are in BC. Lucky you. I empathize with the critique of the Harper government, to a degree. The problem is one of, following the lead of George Bush, in that you are following, uh, George Bush. That's problematic enough. I will always remember him sitting in the classroom with a stunned look on his face on camera during the height of 9/11, and wonder, what did the teacher ask that put such a confused look on that boy's face? But I digress, for, Keith, we have the government we deserve, in a democracy, we elect them. As for NO NARCOTIC CONTROL BOARD I guarantee somebody is weighing every stinking gram

I don't remember any major organized crime busts under Chretien either . Unlike Harper I don't blame past regiemes but I voted for Harper . He ran on accountability , democracy and honest government . I blame Harper for lieing not past liberal regeimes or Bush . Harper lied to me and stole my vote .

i was just in the ministry of interior affairs, living a day of my life with Afghan bureaucracy.
afghan armed forces and afghan police is a great place to see how power is shared in afghanistan.
billions of dollars have been invested in armed forces to make them national but they don't have the slightest character of nationalhood.
power is shared along the undemocratic lines. the most powerful is the generals and commanders who are freinds with amercians and ally with westeners. the secod level of power is connection with the so called leaders, both tribal and mujahideen.

five years has passed since the socalled democratic intervention in afghanistan but the country is undemocratic more than ever and politically corrupt than ever.

its very important to support social causes like raido watandar and other media and civil society reps, as another power pillar. otherwise old same stuff would happen few people suppressing the rest of the soceity.

media hasn't proven yet as another power pillar and there is not yet that direct connection with people.

warlords and political groups have realsed the importance of media and today they have dozens of outlets. this is why internatioanl community has stopped their support for free media.

i think we can pretty much see where this country is going. down the same line it was ten years ago anarchy and warlordism. it's just a matter of time.

i was just in the ministry of interior affairs, living a day of my life with Afghan bureaucracy.
afghan armed forces and afghan police is a great place to see how power is shared in afghanistan.
billions of dollars have been invested in armed forces to make them national but they don't have the slightest character of nationalhood.
power is shared along the undemocratic lines. the most powerful is the generals and commanders who are freinds with amercians and ally with westeners. the secod level of power is connection with the so called leaders, both tribal and mujahideen.

five years has passed since the socalled democratic intervention in afghanistan but the country is undemocratic more than ever and politically corrupt than ever.

its very important to support social causes like raido watandar and other media and civil society reps, as another power pillar. otherwise old same stuff would happen few people suppressing the rest of the soceity.

media hasn't proven yet as another power pillar and there is not yet that direct connection with people.

warlords and political groups have realsed the importance of media and today they have dozens of outlets. this is why internatioanl community has stopped their support for free media.

i think we can pretty much see where this country is going. down the same line it was ten years ago anarchy and warlordism. it's just a matter of time.

Arthur:A report in the Montreal Gazette on Sunday
(Front Page) stated the Governor of Kandahar as saying the war is close to an end.
Asadullah Khalid was quoted as saying the security situation there has improved compared to last year at the same time.
He also stated Canadian troops would be necessary until the end of the war.
So is he correct or not????

Ted, our friend Asadullah was contributing, unfortunately, to the political fog of war, rather than giving a lucid and honest account of the situation in the southwest. While it's true that NATO forces like Canada's have had a major, and I think on the whole positive, impact on the military balance of power, the Taliban leadership (both Afghan and Pakistani) feel emboldened over the long term. That's because NATO contingents are already looking for "exit strategies," while Taliban groups will be able to destabilize the Western-backed Kabul regime as long as they can field a few hundred men with rifles, hostage-taking gangs and IEDs. In other words, indefinitely.

Sanjar, many thanks for your contribution. Of course there are honest officials, too, within the Interior Ministry who share your frustration and anger. In my experience, their expectations for the future, generally speaking, are as dark as your own. The only hope we have to expose corruption and correct it is to publicize the individuals who are to blame. So please keep the information flowing - and don't lose hope for the future.