CounterPunch
June 2, 2005
Anarchy in Afghanistan; Ignorance in America
Open Mouths and Closed Brains
By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
Senator Frist MD, this Bush mouthpiece whose knowledge of regional affairs would fit into a bonsai peanut shell, announced in his "Notes from the Road" travelogue on his no-expense-spared swing round the sub-continent that "Afghanistan has a growing national economy - 6% last year - led by strong manufacturing, increasing exports, a solid service sector, and growth in agriculture. There is a strong desire to increase trade with the US."
Afghanistan is in a state of anarchy. Its president has to be guarded by foreign mercenaries and dare not venture out of the capital for fear he will be killed. The main part of the economy that is growing is the drug sector which has increased by very much more than 6 per cent since Bush invaded the country. The US government itself estimates that opium poppy cultivation shot up from 150,000 acres in 2003 to 510,000 acres last year in a shining example of Bush progress and freedom and free market influences. "Strong manufacturing"? What tripe. The Afghans produce hand-loomed carpets, a few other textiles, furniture, some fertilizer, and small quantities of cement; there isn't a proper manufacturing industry in the entire country. But indeed there are rising exports. They are raw opium and heroin.
Frist's "solid service sector" exists all right: it services drug producers, drug smugglers, warlords and rich westerners in Kabul. And the "growth in agriculture" -- well, that's spot on, because poppy is growing ever increasing quantities, making it necessary for the country to import a million tons of wheat each year to feed its people. As the State Department says, "Millions of Afghans, particularly in rural areas, remain dependent on food aid." Then what about "a strong desire to increase trade with the US"? -- Of course there is: because most of the heroin currently goes to Europe, and the drug lords would very much like to increase trade with the US by expanding their exports in that direction.
Frist is an ignorant, mischievous, parochial dimwit. He has tried to create a picture of normality where none exists. Just as Barno (no longer in Afghanistan, praise be) lives in a world of self-delusion and interferes in matters he knows nothing about, so does Frist MD demonstrate invincible denseness. The problem for civilized America -- the non-Bush US -- is that Frist, Barno and countless others are regarded as important people by many foreigners and when they make silly statements it is not always understood that they are simpletons. They haven't got the wit to be cunningly deceitful: they are merely boneheads. But that doesn't matter, because they are faithfully spreading the word about Bush progress and freedom. That process relies on open mouths and closed brains.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley06022005.html
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