Afghans Say Poverty, Not Taliban, Main Cause Of War

The main cause of war in Afghanistan is not the Taliban, but the poverty. Unemployment and government corruption are the main causes of war.

After 3 decades of war Afghanistan is remains one of the poorest and least developed country in the world. Unemployment rate stands around 40 percent and more than more than half the country lives below the poverty line. Violence is at its highest level since U.S. backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

A survey of more than 7000 Afghans by British charity Oxfam and over groups, found that 70 percent of people who completed the survey, see poverty and unemployment as the main divers of the conflict. Almost a half of them said corruption and ineffectiveness of their government are the main reason for the continuous war while 36% thought the Taliban insurgency was to blame.

“Repairing this damage can’t be done overnight. It will take a long time for the economic, social and psychological scars to heal… Afghanistan needs more than military solutions.”

There are 110 000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan 68 000 Americans trying to strengthen Talibu insurgency that has spread to previously peaceful areas. President Obama is deciding where to send the other 40 000 troops. The Afghanistan’s frustration is the slow pace of development – widespread corruption, inability of Afghan and international security forces to stop the violence.

Even though there are billions of dollars in aid poured into the country, very few Afghans have seen few changes in their lives.

“Many individuals felt that though much had been promised to the Afghan people, little had actually been delivered – creating frustration and disillusionment and ultimately discouragement stability” – Oxfam said.



http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/11/18/world/international-us-afghanistan-survey.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=poverty&st=cse

I think this is a very interesting article. People are trying to figure out what is the problem and how it started and this is the first step of solving a problem, identifying it and also knows how and why it started. There is a progress in development in Middle East.

The fact that people don’t feel the change its being made, even though there are a lot of money doing into Afghanistan, it is repeated a lot of times that there is a constant corruption in that country, there is no surprise there.

I think pathos is very well used when the person said; - Repairing this damage can’t be done overnight (….) economic, social and psychological scars to heal- the psychological scar, shows through how much terror they have and are being put under .