Afghan Ministry Triage

Spencer, reporting from the Afghanistan hearings, posted this earlier today:

Clinton said in testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee that intelligence-sharing was accelerating throughout the government about Afghan “corruption and major crime.” And then came something new. “We are certifying Afghan ministries,” she said. “There will be some that we believe are functioning well enough now that we can with confidence provide funding, holding their leadership accountable. And there are others, frankly, that we’re not gonna touch. Until they’re cleaned out, they’re not getting any United States civilian assistance.” She did not specify which ministries she meant.

::Shakes fist at Secretary Clinton::

I want specifics. My impression is that we’re going to triage the ministries, which is an interesting idea. We’ll pour assistance into some that show promise but need serious work, leave others mostly alone because they stand on their own as is, and withhold aid from a third, severely dysfunctional and corrupt group.

So, what’s the break-down? I can guess, but I’d like to know.

Dreams and Nightmares

I’ve had extremely vivid, plot-driven dreams for as long as I can remember. This means I get to experience wonderful fantasies, but also terrible ones.

The past few nights, I’ve had nightmares.

In one, I am standing in an underground room with no windows, fluorescent lighting, and dark blue carpeting on the walls. There is a conference table in the middle of the room, and people are standing around it. A meeting of some sort has just ended. I am standing in a corner, by myself, arms wrapped around my chest. Through a speaker, I can hear the sounds of the outside. Birds, people talking, kids shouting, cars, music.

Suddenly, there’s a soft whoosh. Then silence. The kind of silence that does not exist in the real world, except for the profoundly deaf.

Everyone in the room looks up, as if the ceiling knows something, and then at each other.

A feeling of resigned dread rises up from inside me. So, it’s here, I think.

Now, I’m on a plane. Fading light pours in through the windows, and I gaze out into the same sherbet sunset that wall-papered my remote childhood.

The plane tilts and the view changes. There it is, hanging in the horizon, the ultimate symbol of irreversible mistakes:  the mushroom cloud.

What did the Swedish International Development Agency ever do to these people?

It bet Bill Easterly got SO excited about this gutsy ad giving the middle finger to SIDA.

Lithuanian counterinsurgency

Holy crap, guys. This reads like something from the Onion.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Nov. 30) – ISAF service members serving in the Lithuanian-led provincial reconstruction team in western Afghanistan distributed thousands of handmade hats to schoolchildren in Ghowr province Nov. 25.

Almost 2,000 hats were given to Afghan children in Chaghcharan by members of the PRT during the final phase of the project, “Warm Hats for Afghan Children.”

And wait, it gets better!

Stuff annoying me today

- Can we stop saying ALL or even MOST Afghan bureaucrats are corrupt assholes? Corruption is more complicated than venality + impunity = FAIL, and painting the entire Afghan government with such a broad brush is grossly unfair to non-corrupt civil servants working hard under very tough conditions. Mmkay?

- Fake hamsters are causing mall riots. WTF is wrong with people?

- You stay classy, Swiss People’s Party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

- I keep having dreams about governance in Afghanistan. No, really. I even dream about writing on governance in Afghanistan. I have issues, it’s true.

- From now on, anyone who gets too excited about predator drone strikes (ROBOTS! THAT BLOW SHIT UP! THAT SHIT IS AWESOME!) is going to be accused, by yours truly, of having a “drone boner.”