In Afghanistan, Selling War As Peace

/ afghanistan / remember / afghanistan? /
Marc W. Herold writes on this first "liberated" country and the upcoming election sham:

...The one striking "success" of the United States has been its ability to get Afghans to do the fighting and be killed. This year has been a difficult one for an Afghan soldier serving the Karzai regime, much more deadly than being a Taliban or Al Qaeda member. For every Euro-American soldier who died, 10-13 Afghan troops were killed. "Afghanization" has been carried out with a vengeance, repeating the U.S. effort at Vietnamization. For every U.S. soldier killed in the Afghan theater, the Taliban/Al Qaeda has suffered 7-9 deaths - a relatively low ratio by historical standards....
...Does anyone really believe that on-the-ground reality in Afghanistan will change after October 9, 2004? October 9, 2004 will be for U.S. consumption, a veritable post-modern spectacle. Huge problems of vote-buying, intimidation, extremely biased resource availability to candidates (with Karzai and some Northern Alliance thugs holding the disproportionate amounts), the holding by one person of many voter cards, etc., but most importantly, how can a western-style election be realistically carried out in an environment where illiteracy rates are extremely high, and rampant violence abounds? More males are registered to vote as of August 25th then the number of eligible male voters. Indeed, the U.N. continually adjusts upwards its numbers of eligible voters! An Afghan voting card sells for $100 today....

See also The Afghanistan Failure