Afghanistan: Fraud, Opium, and Taliban

If someone is caught cheating in the Olympics or another sporting event, the athlete is immediately disqualified, and it is seen as a disgrace. In the case of the recent election in Afghanistan however, cheating has been rewarded and even praised by no less than the President of the United States himself.

President Obama said that he contacted Hamid Karzai shortly after the Afghan president said he would abide by the results of a presidential election held in August.

"I wanted to congratulate him on accepting the certification of the recent election," Mr. Obama said.

How quickly have we forgotten how many Western leaders hailed the August 20th vote as an example of "democracy," a democracy mired with fraud? And we're not talking here about a few hundred "hanging chads," but rather more than one million ballots (cast on August 20) that were discounted due to the "coefficient of fraud," as the Electoral Complaints Commission refers to it. Mr. Hamid Karzai now says he wants a better and cleaner presidential election run-off in November to bring stability to Afghanistan at a time when Taliban violence is at its worst in eight years of war. The Afghan leader has played down fraud allegations but bowed to international pressure by ordering a run-off as a way to bolster the election's credibility at a time when Washington is weighing whether to send more troops to Afghanistan.

"Now that we are holding the second round in two weeks, I want it to be better than the first round," Karzai said.

Why isn't Mr. Karzai being held responsible for this blatant act of election fraud? And who can guarantee that a repeat of the fraud won't happen? Or that all hell won't break loose during the run-off? Since the August 20 vote, five suicide bombs alone have ripped through the capital Kabul.

Meanwhile, as President Obama ponders sending more troops to Afghanistan, and anxiety and anticipation are building up over the run-off, a recently released UN report says that Afghanistan produces 92% of the world's opium. The equivalent of 3,500 tons leave the country each year, fetching more than $65 billion to fund global terrorism. The Taliban's direct involvement in the opium trade allows them to fund a war machine that is becoming technologically more complex.

The report also says that every year, opium kills five times more people in NATO countries than all the NATO lives lost in eight years of fighting against the Taliban. So here is something to think about: according to the CIA's World FactBook, Afghanistan's entire GDP in 2008 was $22.27 billion. President Obama's decision to send 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster security earlier this year has failed, and the country is just as unstable as ever. Would 40,000 additional troops help? Perhaps for a short while, but with the Taliban and Afghan warlords earning this kind of money from the opium trade not only buy politicians, but can also keep this war going for a hundred years. Afghanistan is not the "good" war.

 

Follow Jamal Dajani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jamaldajani

Comments

[canadaguy2]

Instabilty and war are the primary factors responsible for increased opium production in Afghanistan. Before the Soviet invasion, and during the brief rule of the Taliban, opium production was either very limited, or deliberated curtailed. Soon after the war is over, production is likely to plummet.

http://watching-history.blogspot.com/2009/10/opium-in-afghanistan.html

[AspenFreePress]

The U.S. would be better of it paid more attention to the fraudulent presidential election in Mexico and less to elections in Iran and Afghanistan. There's a political insurrection going on in Mexico in the wake of the crooked election that put Calderon in office over his more popular opponent Obrador. Calderon is embarassed by the turn of events and is calling anyone against him a member of a drug cartel. Calderon needs money from the U.S. to maintain control of Mexico and the spin machine there is working overtime. But it's not a drug war going on in Mexico. It's an insurrection, pure and simple.
Sterling Greenwood/Aspen Free Press

[justice2008]

The US is willing to look the other way if it serves its interests.

[Daughter2]

justice2008 is right on the money. It serves US "Interests", whatever that is. "Bringing democracies" is the cover mission. Like the conquests of the early world by missionaries for Christianity who also brought the armies of Spain and Portugal with them.

[lightningbolt]

"Why isn't Mr. Karzai being held responsible for this blatant act of election fraud?"

Because election fraud has been legal in the U.S. since 2000. The U.S. government simply doesn't enforce the law anymore, whether it is in the U.S. or in one of its colonies.

[joz22]

Since 2000? Not really, the US has meddled in other countries' way before that. And when this did not work we encouraged or assissted in coups.

[justice2008]

Karzai has been a good US puppet and he should be rewarded with another term.

[S1m0n]

The US held an election in a land with no functioning civil society, no rule of law, in the midst of both a long running civil war and a foreign military occupation, and where the main economic engine is organised crime.

What could possibly have gone wrong?

[justice2008]

Let's face the facts: if you cheat once, you'll cheat twice. No amount of monitors will be able to prevent fraud in the run-off.

[joz22]

Send Jimmy Carter and his team.

[jad114]

I really do not understand what has Karzai accomplished in the past 8 years. There is no security or stability in the country.

[cohen238765]

The war in Iraq was about oil and now the war in Afghanistan is about opium!

[outnow]

Opium makes profits like Exxon-Mobil but about one-tenth as much, but that is still alot of money. And there are minerals, gas and oil in Afghanistan. With the pipeline, the place is a gold mine.

[cohen238765]

Is the oil & gas pipeline completed?

[justice2008]

A fraud is a fraud! and Karzai controlled the polls...you don't give him a second chance!

[newsjunkie5]

What has he accomplished in the past 8 years to deserve another 4 years?

[joz22]

Afghanistan is a total waste of time! I can't believe that Obama wants to dig in deeper there. Hope he changes his mind before it's too late.