| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| The Man Who Thought He Could Fix Afghanistan |
| 2017-10-30 |
| [Politico] KABUL‐On November 9, 2016, Scott Guggenheim, a longtime American adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, rose early with the sun, got into an armored vehicle and headed across Kabul’s fortified Green Zone to the U.S. Embassy. Afghanistan is 8½ hours ahead of the East Coast of the United States, and the American expatriates, Afghan elites and others who had managed to scare up invitations had gathered in the basement of the embassy‐a city block-sized, blast-resistant compound as charmless as it is spotless‐to watch the results of the American presidential election. The basement was dominated by State Department employees, who are officially barred from political activism while living abroad but tend to support Democrats; some, anticipating a Hillary Clinton victory, were even calling the occasion a party. On the wall hung a Donald Trump piñata. By midmorning Kabul time, however, Trump had taken a commanding lead, and the mood in the embassy basement began to shift. Ties came undone, breakfast Danishes were anxiously devoured, and under the red, white and blue bunting, a stunned silence settled in. The cover band that had been playing earlier packed up its instruments. Some of the diplomats were typing furiously on their BlackBerrys. Others stepped outside to smoke, leaving behind a more Trump-friendly crowd of uniformed soldiers and veterans who had returned to Afghanistan as private contractors. Guggenheim recalls thinking of the election outcome: "For Afghanistan, it’s not such a bad thing. But for the United States, it’s a disaster." Depressed, he returned to bed. A few days later, he saw Ghani at the Gul Khanna, the presidential office. "Will you give me a passport?" Guggenheim asked him, jokingly. Ghani told him he would. Try this link |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 What a barftastic puff piece covering a worthless diplomat in a POS country. Woah, journalist shill please tell me more about the sweat upon his brow during the warm season, and the dust. Makes you wonder about some of the analyses and recommendations these experts provide, doesn't it? Sounds like they start out with a square peg and somehow make it fit into whatever shape holes they find. That's why they're in academia - they don't actually have to get anything done outside of filling reams of paper with unintelligible English-like sentences. Funny thing is that Guggenheim is supposed to have spent decades in Indonesia. Last I heard, Indonesia is way behind China in terms of its economic development despite never having gone communist. Now, foreign development theorists never actually have the power to implement their recommendations if they don't have an occupation army in tow. That excuse went away when he showed up in Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2017-10-30 22:31 |
| #8 What a barftastic puff piece covering a worthless diplomat in a POS country. Woah, journalist shill please tell me more about the sweat upon his brow during the warm season, and the dust. F#ck you Scott. F#ck you journalist. Y'all don't represent me. Get real jobs in Oklahoma you tards. |
| Posted by: rammer 2017-10-30 21:54 |
| #7 The Omsk Canal. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-10-30 19:04 |
| #6 Ghani sounds like a typical Third World leader who talks a good game while in academia, then scoops up the filthy lucre with both hands while in power. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2017-10-30 17:00 |
| #5 ...got to start somewhere. Focus. BTW, the last guy to 'fix' Afghanistan was a Mongol. Too many snowflakes today to use the proven methodology. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-10-30 14:22 |
| #4 Can Trump scrap the state department and rebuild it from scratch? What about the rest of departments and agencies? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-10-30 12:20 |
| #3 Can Trump scrap the state department and rebuild it from scratch? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2017-10-30 12:11 |
| #2 Thanks! Still under warranty. NC Herb :-) |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-10-30 08:40 |
| #1 Link had the title text pasted into it, not the URL. |
| Posted by: Herb McCoy7309 2017-10-30 08:24 |