essay 3 draft

[Olga F.]

it's just part of the body

The plan of counterinsurgency includes making some regulations in
Afghan government, but it seems like it will be very hard to do
because Afghan government is corrupted beyond any limits: “In the
streets and government offices, hardly a public transaction seems to
unfold here that does not carry with it the requirement of a
bribe…” (Filkins, 2009). It is impossible for the US to impose any
regulations if there is hardly a stable government in the region.
Because there is high corruption among officials, the money that the
US is pumping into Afghanistan often goes not on the development of
infrastructure, but into the pockets of officials. In order for the US
to implement its plan about rebuilding the nation, it first has to
eliminate corruption, which is hard to do because the government
itself is corrupt. For example, the brother of the president Karzai is
involved in the opium trade business. Because the government is so
corrupt, it makes it easier for Taliban leaders to sway ordinary
people on their side. This brings the problem of trust, when the US
troops try to cooperate with the Afghan police, the US soldiers have
to do double job; to defend from Taliban people, and to watch out for
the Afghan police not to betray them.
Another damage that counterinsurgency plan can lead to is that by
invading the country of Afghanistan Americans disrupt the regular life
of Afghan people, making them to make a decision if it would be better
of without the troops. As it stated in The Economist (2009) “the
increased violence might in fact turn the locals against the
Americans….for failing to bring peace”. Even though the US had good
intentions on helping locals against Taliban, in reality locals suffer
more with the US troops being constantly around. It brings frequent
shootings between the US soldiers and Taliban, and in many cases the
victims are innocent civilians. The life of local Afghan people has
changed completely with the invasion. Now they have to live with
constant supervision; American troops patrol the areas, conduct
frequent house searches, stop people in the street and ask them to
take off their clothes in order to be searched. This environment
cannot have a positive effect on the mentality of Afghan people.
Locals are stuck in the middle between Taliban and the US troops. They
are threatened by Taliban not to cooperate with Americans and on the
other side they are demanded to do so by the US troops. Such
conditions and situation may easily turn Afghan people against
Americans, because it looks like locals would be better of without
troops on their territory, so Taliban wouldn’t attack them and they
could live peacefully.