Don't touch my bags if you please

[cyrano]

I haven't heard much from Afghanistan since they reported that opium sales are way up since the Taliban left. Anybody heard how the plan to restore order and democracy there is progressing? Is Karzai still the Man In Charge, and if so is it through election or appointment? Any headway on capturing bin Laden and bringing him to trial?

Comments

Afghanistan

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

Karzai is still in charge, if you want to call it that. Read between the lines, and you can tell that he does not control much beyond the capital. Here's an example.

A couple of his cabinet ministers have been assassinated. He has avoided the same fate at least once.

A loya jirga approved the country's constitution earlier this year. June parlimentary and presential elections have been pushed back to September.

The U.S. has increased the number of troops over there. But NATO is now in charge of military operations. Recently, Pakistani troops won a sizeable battle over the Taliban.

The country recently received pledges of $8.2 billion in foreign aid from all over the world. Article on this. A drop in the bucket, considering outside of opium, there is very little in the way of an economy.

This is a drop in the bucket. Search the BBC Worldservice and see all 3,427 results. (I'm not making that number up either.)