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| Afghanistan/South Asia | |
| New U.S. Tactic: Employ Poor Afghans | |
| 2005-07-25 | |
The U.S. military operational commander in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, believes that the more Afghans being put to work helps take away some of the enemies' ability to recruit. "I'd rather have an Afghan national working on a road or helping build a clinic than getting three to five bucks or whatever the Taliban or al-Qaida-associated movement pays him to plant an IED (improvised explosive device)," he told The Associated Press on Saturday. "We are hiring as many Afghans as we can." As part of the strategy, an ambitious string of reconstruction projects are on the drawing board for fall and winter, when militants here are normally quiet, in an attempt to prevent an insurgent offensive next spring, when snows melt on high mountain passes used by the rebels. Most building projects in past years have slowed down during the winter months when the freezing temperatures make construction difficult. But this year, the military is determined to push ahead with them, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said Sunday. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 Well, there's one place I think is deserving... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-25 20:38 |
| #7 Just setting up NGOs for their own sweet sake is a waste of money. The idea is not to keep them on Uncle Sugar's payroll, but present them with an idea like "We'll pay you 50 guys to turn this 10,000 acres into good farmland. We'll give you the tools, fertilizer and seed, you give us the labor. You clear the rocks, dig irrigation canals, plant the seed, fertilize it and pull the weeds. When the crop comes in, you sell it, use some of the money to buy more fertilizer and seed, and you get to split the rest. If the crop is good, all 50 of you will be rich men next year. But those who work not shall not get rich. Get to work. For now you'll be paid every day at the end of the day." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-25 18:42 |
| #6 I'm sure HRW will claim we are exploiting the poor Afghans by giving them jobs at a decent so that they can support their families and get them off the NGO's rolls. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-07-25 18:33 |
| #5 2nd Choice, thousand of tiny robots grinding down the boulders and building roads. Course we may have to wait for the Satans Engineers to build the tiny robots but hey! Think long term! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-25 16:30 |
| #4 Lol - they'll import Lh to keep that CCC program running - and he'll likely expand it, doncha know, and then they'll form unions, and then... Progress, heh. There's a solid truth in your post, Moose. People that have never had a govt that did more than steal from them, oppress them, and shoot wymyn in the soccer stadium would slowly, but surely I agree, be won over by one that actually performed public works. And yeah, a couple of billion per year could go a long way among the majority who aren't on a warlord or druglord payroll, if managed well. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-07-25 14:01 |
| #3 The irony is that we could employ most of the country for $1B. If it was done intelligently, to turn the Afghans "development crazy", it would be the ultimate tool to crushing the Taliban. Small business employ most of the people in a capitalist country; so we should spend most of the money making every 10th Afghan a small businessman. For the totally untrained, set up a CCC-type organization and pay them a good wage to do things like plant trees, improve and make new farmland, farm and market crops, canalize their water system to support rural growth, road building, and every kind of wholesale and retail imagineable. After a couple of years, Afghans should consider it their patriotic duty to be gainfully employed and living a much better life. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-07-25 13:52 |
| #2 Roads are key to controlling the country. Uncle Sam can go anywhere anytime in Afghanistan regardless of road conditions because his military is set up to do it. The Afghan military will need good roads to effectively control the countryside. Just like railroads were the key to winning the West and roads were key to the building and maintenance of the Roman empire, good roads will be the key to the central government's control of Afghanistan. If that's what we want. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-07-25 07:48 |
| #1 Rummy is fed up with reconstruction progress. It now falls under him directly. Expect big time construction types to come in and organize this into something that brings immediate results. |
| Posted by: Donald Trump 2005-07-25 05:35 |