WASHINGTON ABANDONS AFGHANISTAN:
Paying for War is Easier than Paying for Peace
Frida Berrigan, World Policy Institute
November 21, 2002
As Washington prepares for war in Iraq, officials are trying to
reassure Afghanistan that it will not be lost in the shuffle. Muhammad
Ali, heavy weight champ and UN Messenger of Peace, recently completed a
three day tour of Afghanistan where he tried to focus international
attention on the country's plight and gave volleyballs and jumping ropes
to children. U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill also came, bearing
promises that the war in Iraq would not derail Washington's commitment
to rebuilding Afghanistan.
But Afghanistan needs more than reassurance and high level visits, it
need a massive influx of humanitarian and reconstruction aid.
Recognizing this, Congress recently approved a $2.3 billion aid package
for Afghanistan over the next four years, and another $1 billion to fund
the peacekeeping effort. While that is more than the Bush administration
requested, it is just a drop in an ocean of need. The United Nations
estimates that the reconstruction effort alone will cost between $10-15
billion, on top of the billions needed to address the humanitarian
crisis. President Bush proudly cited the true strength of character and
kindness of the American people, in aiding Afghanistan and highlighted
the Fund for Afghan Children, which raised $10.5 million from U.S.
schoolchildren. While this is a laudable effort, The Nation contributor
David Corn points out that $10.5 million is about one-twentieth of what
Bush spent to get elected in 2000. And it is almost insignificant
compared to the estimated $2.5 billion the administration is spending
each month to prosecute the war.
Joseph Biden (D-DE) remarked that the aid would help keep Afghanistan
from sliding back into chaos and becoming a haven for terrorists
again. But a close look at what is happening on the ground reveals that
it might be too late to stave off chaos and keep terrorism at bay.
Afghanistan is far from stable. U.S. troops in Afghanistan are being
fired on by Al-Qaeda an average of three times a week. There has been a
ten-fold increase in opium production in the last year, and the drug
lords are Northern Alliance leaders and U.S. allies who helped oust the
Taliban. The Afghani police killed two students who were part of a
demonstration protesting the lack of electricity and running water in
their dorms. The government of President Hamid Karzai is so shaky that
he has three separate security details- his own, U.S. Special Forces and
personnel from a private military company called DynCorp.
The humanitarian crisis is critical. According to the United Nations,
half of all Afghan children suffer from chronic malnutrition and one out
of every four children dies before the age of five. There are almost 4
million Afghan refugees, mostly women and children. An estimated 16,000
women dying each year from pregnancy-related causes, this is the 2nd
highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Afghanistan's ability to
produce food has been seriously reduced; grain production has fallen by
more than 50% in the past two years, and livestock herds are severely
depleted. The primary road network is in shambles, with half in need of
reconstruction. Outside of Kabul many people still walk three miles to
get water.
Terrorism remains an issue, but more and more the terrorized are
Afghani civilians. In a recently released report, Human Rights Watch
asserts that U.S. military forces are actively backing Ismail Khan, a
warlord in western Afghanistan with a disastrous human rights record.
Earlier this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with Khan
and described him as an appealing person, but those suffering beneath
his rule would not agree. HRW documents widespread abuses by officials
under Khan's command, including arbitrary and politically motivated
arrests, intimidation, extortion and torture.
While the United States is shirking its responsibility to contribute to
the momentous task of rebuilding and reestablishing stability in
Afghanistan, the Bush administration is willing to pay for a new war
against Iraq that will not come at a discount. Yale economist William
Nordhaus estimates the economic impacts of war in Iraq could be as large
as $120 billion to $1.5 trillion. These staggering figures take into
account the effects of possible disruption in the oil markets, Iraqi use
of chemical and biological weapons, the costs of an extended military
occupation of Iraq, and other factors that have not been addressed in
estimates to date. If Washington abandons Afghanistan; will another
cost of war in Iraq be the continued suffering of the Afghani people?
Will another casualty of war in Iraq be stability and democracy deferred
in Afghanistan?
Resources:
ALL OUR HOPES ARE CRUSHED: Violence and Repression in Western
Afghanistan
Human Rights Watch, October 5, 2002.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/afghan3/
