Afghanistan - Do You Know Where Our Aid Money Goes?

The Scotsman has an article today about how the Taliban are being bribed to hold off attacks prior to the Afghan elections on Thursday. That is just the tip of the iceberg to do with the Taliban receiving our money.

After reading OldRightie's post, I decided to investigate where our aid money goes in Afghanistan.

Before you read further you must read How you are funding the Taliban.

We are regularly told by the Westminster government that our aid money is going towards large scale infrastructure projects in Helmand, projects including a major road and hydro-electric plant. Also £18m is being spent on agriculture and rural enterprise development for young men and women in rural areas of Afghanistan.

Did you know we supply the Taliban with free bomb making materials? The fertiliser for agricultural projects is brought from Pakistan and we probably pay a 'tax' to the Taliban to ensure its safe arrival. Then we give it to the Taliban.

I'm also very reliably informed that to get supplies to British troops from across the Pakistan border, the transport contractors have to pay the Taliban a 'tax' for safe passage. This is built into the price we pay the contractor. My source states: We do not pay direct... in order to maintain "plausible deniability".

The UK is the third largest development aid donor (after the US and European Commission), giving just over £100m every year since 2004-2005, 80% of which is channelled through the central government. The fact that the Afghan state relies almost entirely on external capital and the provision of military support undermines its domestic legitimacy and this deters it from considering durable solutions and lasting peace. The security of one's family is the primary determinant of Afghan loyalty and Afghans know better than anyone how inherently precarious their position is if they are seen to be too close to NATO or ISAF forces.

One of the reasons Afghans can be hired but not bought is that they have an acute sense of history and of the relatively brief presence of foreigners in their country. Reflecting on the 10 year Soviet occupation of the 80s, many Afghans know there is nothing unique about this latest attempt to bring 'peace and development' to their country.

So far the cost to the British taxpayer of the Afghanistan 'conflict' is £12 billion. Losing the Plot - Britain's losses in Afghanistan is a must read to see the overall picture.

Am I any more informed as to why our troops are fighting in this war? No, but I am certainly more aware of how the Taliban survive and expand. We are giving them the money to make their bombs and IEDs to kill our soldiers.

The despair of the killings is felt by this writer. He gives little about his identity but from his post I think he is a Pakistani based IT consultant.

Sources: DFID, Scotsman, HEP

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PAKISTAN CONCEDES to SHARIA LAW IN MALAKAND

People Fleeing Fighting in the Swat Valley

The opinion of those who observe the political situation in Asia is that Pakistan's stability is fundamental to creating stability in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow, the Guardian reports, the Pakistan government will announce that it has agreed to introduce sharia law in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas of the north-west (a vast region called Malakand) in a peace deal with Taliban militants.  Religious conservatives in Swat have long fought for sharia to replace Pakistan's secular laws and the Taliban militants who are in control of the area announced a ceasefire today, reacting to the government's agreement to bring in sharia courts.  

Critics warned that the new sharia regulations represented a capitulation to the extremists' demands and it would be difficult to stop hardliners elsewhere in the country from demanding that their areas also come under Islamic law.

'This is definitely a surrender," said Khadim Hussain of the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy, a thinktank in Islamabad. "If you keep treating a community as something different from the rest of the country, it will isolate them."'

'Javed Iqbal, a retired judge, speaking on Pakistani television, said: "It means that there is not one law in the country. It will disintegrate this way. If you concede to this, you will go on conceding."'

'In an interview broadcast todayby the US television channel CBS, Zardari admitted that the future of Pakistan was in grave danger from the Taliban, who are present in "huge parts" of the country. Islamabad is under severe pressure from the US, Britain and other western allies to rein in the extremists, who fight both in Pakistan and Afghanistan and play host to al-Qaida.

Zardari said: "We are aware of the fact [the Taliban are] trying to take over the state of Pakistan. We're fighting for the survival of Pakistan. "'

Zardari's wife, the former prime minister Benazir Bhutton, was killed by Islamic extremists in 2007.  The Pakistan Daily Times discusses the issues and severely criticises Mr Musharraf for the choices he made after 9/11.

Meanwhile Britain has troops fighting on the front line in Afghanistan and the present death toll is 145.  This change within Pakistan will be welcomed by the Afghani Taliban and it could well increase their numbers.

Our military should be brought home now.  This war will not be won by the west.

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