Some things about the war in Afghanistan you may not know (talked with soldier today)

[The Straight Story]

Was on the phone with my friend there. To spare you a long drawn out post I will try to simply hit some things point by point:

(update: Our call was cut short by a mortar alarm, talking to him now online - he is ok thankfully and said they never aim they just shoot em their way once in a while)

(these are his observations)

1. 10% of the people are educated, and want to try and keep the other 90% ignorant (ie, no education outside of the koran). Example of some issues. A school is built, a few weeks later a warlord is living there, they come back, kick him out, someone else moves in (these schools are nicer then many homes in the area). Teachers are killed. Now why would anyone want to keep people from being educated ? Those with something to lose - hard to control an educated people.

2. Opium/Poppy fields. Why is production up? Real simple answer but with some surprising things: People need to make money, and this makes them a real living.

So in come the troops, and destroy the fields. More enemies are made. So we offer them other crops, but they don't make much. So it finally comes down to the warlords again and how we make deals. Example of that, to do our job we cut a deal - you let us burn 60% of some guy's crop in your area, and we give you new trucks, etc (ie, he said it is like the Sopranos there).

3. The people that WANT us there the most - are those in power. I know it may seem odd, but they are getting more money and security with us there. We are building roads, etc that they want and need, and they use them to their benefit more so than others. It is probably built better now than before, and we have built more then we destroyed. The poor folks aren't getting as much as they are kept ignorant, while the war lords are getting a ton more (they have more power, so we give them better deals - the ones we don't kill, and when we kill em new ones crop up).

4. We are doing good there for many, but more people are needed - less in Iraq, more there. Our soldiers are trying hard to help all the people, but their poverty is beyond imagining. Religion is the one thing that holds them together and keeps them happy with a purpose.

5. Example of issues to think about. We saw two bodies on the road. Probably been there a few days. Think about that in our country occurring. In US you call the cops, ambulances are rushed it, there are investigations, etc, here it is just like a shoulder shrug and someone from the area comes along and buries them and nothing is really done most the time. Someone is taking over a school in the US, media is there, swat teams, and so on. Here, it is different. Laws are not really made and followed, it's like the mob.

More to come later....

Edit: Here is an article worth reading on some of this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1963357,00.html