Losing hearts and minds in Afghanistan

It's not enough we are squandering the lives of our troops in Afghanistan with a remarkable lack of planning and direction, it turns out we're squandering our aid money just as recklessly. According to International Co-operation Minister Josee Verner, we don't know where the money goes because we just hand it over to the Afghan government in a lump sum and leave it up to them to do with it what they will. The problem with this arrangement is the Afghan government is utterly corrupt. It would be quite a surprise if most of the money isn't going into the pockets of President Karzai's officials and their tribal associates. For all we know, it may even be pocketed by drug lords.

The most frightening thing about this ridiculous state of affairs is that we don't even know if any of the $100-million a year in aid we pour into the country is being spent in Kandahar, i.e. where our troops are. As is always the case with counterinsurgency wars, to win we have to win over the Afghan people and to do that we have to create a strong association between the Canadian military and real improvements in their lives. That's hard to do if the aid money is being grafted or spent elsewhere. So much for winning hearts and minds.

This whole affair is slowly drifting from the realm of the implausible into the realm of the absurd.