Short Term Objectives Are Doom To Fail In Afghanistan

A Canadian soldier surveys the Arghandab River as it flows toward the Dahla dam 35 kilometres northeast of Kandahar on Thursday May 21, 2009. Canada is spending $50 million to refurbish the 57-year-old dam and canal system downstream. There is a wide gulf between what people in Kandahar want in terms of reconstruction and what the international community, including Canada, has been delivering, says research conducted for the Canadian military.A campaign assessment, penned last year by the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, paints a stark assessment of the choices of Ottawa has made when it comes to development projects in the war-consumed region. The Canadian Press/Colin Perkel

Kandahar Cluster**** Watch - The You Can't Make This Stuff Up Version -- Democracy Arsenal

Over the last few days I've written about the delusional nature of US/NATO efforts around the impending military operations in Kandahar. Today in the Washington Post we have another excellent example of this phenomenon.

U.S military commanders and senior diplomats are locked in a dispute over the best way to bring more electricity to Afghanistan's second largest city, complicating a major campaign to win over the population of Kandahar and push out the Taliban. Convinced that expanding the electricity supply will build popular support for the Afghan government and sap the Taliban's influence, some officers want to spend $200 million over the next few months to buy more generators and millions of gallons of diesel fuel.

Read more ....

My Comment: The Soviets adopted the same type of thinking when they were fighting the Mujaheddin in the 1980s .... give the Afghan's "bread and circuses" and maybe you can buy some time for the central government to earn some legitimacy and self respect.

Of course they failed .... and the U.S./NATO effort in southern Afghanistan will also fail.

On a side note, the Canadians and the British have been involved in supplying turbines to the Kajaki Dam project 100 miles west from Kandahar. There is more than enough power at this site to provide the electrical needs for many in the region .... Kandahar city included. Unfortunately .... the transmission lines run through Taliban controlled territory .... hence .... no power.