Attack Highlights How A Corner Of Afghanistan Is Falling Apart -- Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor
The ambush and killing of 16 Afghan soldiers last weekend is one of the worst setbacks for the country's military in years.
Glance at a map of Afghanistan and the first thing you notice is the long finger of land jutting out of the country’s northeast – the Wakkan Corridor. The government’s ability to reach that area just became more questionable after an attack this weekend that killed 16 Afghan soldiers on the one road that connects it to Afghanistan proper.
I traveled that road in 2010. The area of the ambush – claimed by the Taliban – scared my driver then, who warned me that the next 15 minutes through the ominously-named Warduj district were going to be risky. Outside the windows of our jeep, we left a lightly-forested riparian village and struck east toward an open landscape ringed by the snowy mountains of the Pamir range, whose peaks form the roof of the world and whose slopes tumble into Pakistan, China, and Tajikistan.
Read more ....
My Comment: In answer to the above title .... "why is this particular province of Afghanistan falling apart" .... can be summed up in one word .... drugs. Narcotics has always been the scourge of Afghanistan, and to have the central government exercise any control in desolate spots like the Wakkan Corridor is (in today's reality) a fantasy at best. Too many people are dependent on it, and couple this with the corruption that is endemic in the Afghan government .... impossible to enforce.
No comments:
Post a Comment