Today the new Your Times published an interesting article titled: “An Afghan Symbol for Change, the Failure”, written by David Rohde.
Richard A. Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia is referenced as stating: “Despite an active insurgency, 1.6 million Afghan girls are attending school, 730 miles of roads and 1,000 schools, clinics and government buildings have been reconstructed, and the country has its first democratically elected president and Parliament.”
On the other hand, United Nations officials said Saturday: “Led by a 160 percent increase in Helmand’s opium crop this year, Afghanistan’s overall production grew by 50 percent to a record 6,100 metric tons,. Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the world’s supply of opium poppy, the basis for heroin.”
These two viewpoints once again raise the question whether repeating the lessons of the past has actually benefited or hindered the Afghan people. And so the story continues but have we as a broader global society learned anything that can prevent wars and the predictable side effects?
