General McChrystal Warns of Illegitimate Government’s Role in U.S. Afghanistan Strategy
The impending chaos that the article warns of if the government corruption continues is exactly what lead to the rise of the Taliban in 1996 after seven years of civil war under the rule of war lords.
Essentially, Afghanistan would be reverting back in time to a state just after the Cold War:
Allegations of widespread fraud in Afghanistan‘s Aug. 20 presidential election threaten to scuttle the international strategy to combat the burgeoning Taliban insurgency. The elections were marred by claims of ballot box stuffing and voter coercion.
On Tuesday, one U.S. military official said discussions within the Obama administration are ongoing about whether it is even possible to “surge” enough troops to overcome the corruption” and how crucial a legitimate government in Afghanistan is to the overall war strategy.
A decision on whether to hold a runoff election between Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and chief challenger Abdullah Abdullah, a former Afghan foreign minister, could come as early as Saturday.
Corruption can lead to citizens rejecting their government and, in some cases, aligning with rebel or insurgent groups. That in turn creates chaos that can lead to security problems and long-term instability.
Sending in additional troops would help secure Afghanistan, but only in the short term, said Jay Parker, a Georgetown University foreign service professor and retired Army colonel. Troops alone can’t fix the corruption, the root of the problem, he said.
Now in its eighth year, the war in Afghanistan has been increasingly deadly for NATO forces and faces waning public support in the United States and allied nations. Obama has vowed to disrupt al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11 attacks, whose leaders are believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s mountainous border region with Afghanistan.
AP sources: Commander frets over Afghan corruption [Yahoo! News]