Afghan Payola

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704250104575238442531337592.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks

Synopsis of the facts:
- Afghan farmers are being paid (by U.S. taxpayers) to plant crops, spray pesticides, harvest crops etc.
- The effort is part of an attempt to undermine the Taliban.

What is implied in the article:
- The U.S. is trying to help the economy and the Taliban is trying to destroy it. IE "we are the good guys."
- The effort is working, it's catching on.
- The really important aspect of the current efforts in Afghanistan is the military activity, this economic effort is just an adjunct to that effort.

Lets focus on this last point a bit. The primacy of the military. Note the following sentence: "Kandahar and Helmand, the southern provinces where the bulk of this money is spent, are the focus of this year's U.S. military surge that seeks to roll back Taliban advances." See the key word in there? It's not just a surge, it's a military surge. We saw the same focus on the military aspect of the surge in Iraq in 2007.

Military aspects were barely touched upon in the article yet the effort was described as a "military" surge.

My opinion is that our nation has become tragically hooked on war and military solutions. I think this dates back to WWII. Ironically the "good" war may have set us up for being seduced by the "glorious" aspects of war and it's benefits to the winning side. More recently the Soviet Union collapsed and we have a very successful war in Iraq in 1991. We don't really fear war any more. Without something like the Soviet Union to contend with war is again tempting. War against much weaker opponents who we don't much like anyway and have something that we want.

Think Iran.

Of course the long term costs of war and occupation are an issue but notice how -even now- just throwing in the word "military" tends to insulate against critical examinations of cost. Imagine the howls of protest if $360 million dollars was spent on generic foreign aid in some similar context. But throw in the word "military" and cost containment goes out the window.

What is going on in Afghanistan is really "payola". Locals are being paid to do what we want and not join or aid the Taliban. That is the backbone of this "military" surge and that was the backbone of the Iraqi surge in 2007.

Everything will be fine as long as we continue to pay them roughly what they ask for.