Most Afghans still lack power

[unhappycamper]

Most Afghans still lack power
By Brett J. Blackledge, Deb Riechmann and Richard Lardner - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 19, 2010 9:08:25 EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan — The goal is to transform Afghanistan into a modern nation, fueled by a U.S.-led effort pouring $60 billion into bringing electricity, clean water, jobs, roads and education to this crippled country. But the results so far — or lack of them — threaten to do more harm than good.

The reconstruction efforts have stalled and stumbled at many turns since the U.S. military arrived in 2001, undermining President Barack Obama's vow to deliver a safer, stable Afghanistan capable of stamping out the insurgency and keeping al-Qaida from re-establishing its bases here.

Poppy fields thrive, with each harvest of illegal opium fattening the bankrolls of terrorists and drug barons. Passable roads remain scarce and unprotected, isolating millions of Afghans who remain cut off from jobs and education. Electricity flows to only a fraction of the country's 29 million people.

Case in point: a $100 million diesel-fueled power plant that was supposed to be built swiftly to deliver electricity to more than 500,000 residents of Kabul, the country's largest city. The plant's costs tripled to $305 million as construction lagged a year behind schedule, and now it often sits idle because the Afghans were able to import cheaper power from a neighboring country before the plant came online.

What went wrong?

[msongs]

1. US authorized funding is for war profiteers to make $$, not actual value/results nt

[CRK7376]

2. Pulling rooftop security at my firebase in 2003

out in the boondocks of Afghanistan on any given night, once the sun set and the town was dark, we were back in the stone age. Six homes/business had power after dark. They were the only 6 places in town beside my small firebase with a generator. Everybody else buned kerosene lamps, fires or were dark and without power. Even the hospital/clinic, did not have power, although they had a huge German 10-20k generator. So advanced it ran off a computer. Problem was they did not have the people or instruction manual who could read/speak German. No power grid either. NONE at all. Truly stone age...