Legal Commentary

Afghanistan Idiocy

By David Bernstein

I didn?t need any more evidence that the U.S. has no idea what it?s doing in Afghanistan, what it can reasonably accomplish, and why we?re shoveling billions of dollars down this particular rat hole, but here it is. The story starts with an idea so dumb that the alert reader recognizes that the U.S. government is satirizing itself better than any real-life satirist could possibly do:

[The idea was that] hundreds of children would gather on the iconic Nader Khan Hill in the capital, Kabul, on a gorgeous Friday in September and fly kites emblazoned with slogans lauding the rule of law and equality for women. The kites, along with copies of the Afghan Constitution and justice-themed comic books, would be gifts of the United States, part of a $35 million effort ?to promote the use of Afghanistan?s formal justice system.? 

Read on the for predictably comic, disturbing, and disillusioning (if you had any illusions) results.

H/T: Amitai Etzioni.

UPDATE: I suppose this story isn?t quite as bad as the one I heard on NPR several months ago. The U.S. was using contractors to build schools in Taliban-friendly areas. To build the schools, the contractors had to pay substantial bribes to the local warlord, who was in the pocket of the Taliban. So the U.S. builds the school, at least half the credit among the locals goes to the Taliban, and the Taliban uses the U.S.?s own money to pay for the soldiers (and weapons) who attack American soldiers.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).