Pissing Into the Wind, a.k.a. Afghanistan

First, the good news from Afghanistan.   Now, the other news.  US officials are predicting a severe drought will arrive this year, potentially leaving millions of poor hungry and fueling instability.

"Many Afghans live right on the edge of starvation and without necessary water there will be communities that will be on the move, seeking pasture and agricultural work in other areas," a senior U.S. defence official said on condition of anonymity.

Record world grain prices will make it difficult for the Kabul government to buy staples to ease shortfalls.   But the Karzai government may not be in a position to buy anything due to its handling of the country's largest bank.

An International Monetary Fund assessment of how the Afghan government handled mismanagement and fraud at the country's largest private bank is so bleak it could jeopardise critical donor support for Afghanistan and have devastating political consequences, diplomats said on Tuesday.


Corruption, bad loans and mismanagement cost Kabulbank hundreds of millions of dollars and the government's inability to come up with a serious solution could see the IMF withdraw its support for aid-reliant Afghanistan, four diplomats said. 

The Kabulbank scandal, in which at least $579 million has been put at risk, has added a banking crisis to Afghanistan's troubles, which include a growing insurgency and political paralysis.


The International Monetary Fund and the Afghan government and central bank are at loggerheads over what to do with the politically well-connected Kabulbank: the IMF wants it placed in receivership immediately to stem losses but Kabul wants a gradual rehabilitation and sale.

A narco-economy, corruption, tribalism and warlordism, religious fundamentalism, drought and floods and an insurgency/civil war.  How in hell is the West supposed to salvage that?   What were we thinking?