What has occurred to me is that maybe, just maybe, native Afghanis have something to do with the problems in their country.

It ain’t a perfect world where we’re concerned, but let’s be clear on something. Afghanistan isn’t Iraq.

Well here’s a modest proposal for the occupying generals:

Make fewer orphans by bombing and killing less parents. Seems a no-brainer, no?

Not sure it’s feasible for the military strategists, however.

Generals also engage in public relations to put a “humanitarian” face on their atrocities. Had that never occured to you?

Mr. O’Steen isn’t available to defend those comments, and I don’t know enough to do it for him, but I would like to point out that he said these generals had raised money for an orphanage on their own, which would seem to be at odds with your statement: “The people of Afghanistan are not considered relevant among ‘generals’ of the occupying imperial storm troopers.”

The underlying assumptions being:

1) They aren’t an illegal occupying army.

2) They have some right to be there.

3) The “international community” can conquer and administrate Afghanistan as it pleases.

4) The people of Afghanistan are not considered relevant among “generals” of the occupying imperial stormtroopers.

5) Rolling out a list of problems is self-justifying for more endless, open occupation.

Etcetera. And I never even got to the whole protected opium trade, intelligence service connections and western sponsorship of terrorist networks…

In the next few days, S&R will be publishing some more of Connor’s observations that may shed some light on your questions.

Time Magazine’s cover this week is on how to bring our attention back to Afghanistan and make our work more effective there. McCain and Obama also lent their pens to push their plans for the country.

How effective are these humanitarian efforts? I’ve gathered that ousting the Taliban and scattering Al Qaeda created a much better environment for a year or two (lots of schools for girls opened up, for example) but deteriorated when we couldn’t sustain our attention (which beget the opium explosion). Obama makes the point that since we diverted our resources to Iraq, military and otherwise, we couldn’t finish what we started in Afghanistan. What do you think?

S&R special correspondent and PARSA aid worker Connor O’Steen takes readers on an intimate tour of Afghanistan. In this letter,we’re introduced to the position of dogs in Afghani society and how their security convoys make ISAF generals targets….