Afghanistan: Real Progress

It is very popular to denounce foreign aid but so often money spent overseas can do so much more. TheAtlantic.com notes that from 2004 to 2010 in Afghanistan the life expectancy has gone from 42 years to 62! Hopefully the country can maintain that after NATO troops leave.

That's cute Fred. We paid for that. We had our children killed for that. We ruined the minds of countless poor Americans for that. We also used that conflict to justify the wholesale destruction of our culture and the blatant violation of our own laws.

In the same time the average retirement for the fighting generation also moved 20 years, from 62 to 82.

And the unemployment rate also jumped at least 2%.

With all due respect, the sum total of our involvement in Afghanistan is not progress, it has been anything but. This has been a Political Party based money fest in exchange for lives and livelihoods.

But congrats to the Afghans, 20 more years to be shot at and tortured by whoever invades them after we back out.

The wholesale destruction of our culture? And I thought I was a pessimist.

I do feel these recent conflicts and the reactions took us from empowering the individual to empowering the collective. Of course these conflicts did not invent this stuff, but as with most things, like technology, the wars just accelerate them and wars usually does not accelerate the good stuff, or at least not in comparison to the bad and permanent.

These conflicts also accelerated the internet which is the #1 killer of diverse culture in the world. It allows us to interact, the culture is the price as everyone is forced to find some level of agreement, as here on this site. We are all very busy here trying to draw others out of their cultures and into ours.

I am pessimistic about our collective culture because it is sooooo collective, but not about individuals or selective groups. Once you write off the collective as the solution, you can actually be more realistically optimistic (not just optimistic) about your own life, in my opinion.

You will be assimilated? Might be one reason Islamic fundamentalists hate us, we are exposing our culture to theirs. Women can see the benefits of education and being able to drive. How vaccinations and pre-natal vitamins help their children survive.


OTN, isolate them again? Or use the Chinese model, go into their country, bribe the leaders, mine the resources with Chinese employees walled off from the native culture.

OTN you had me agreeing right up until the internet. So far our monies have only empowered other nations to rise up and injure, maime and kill Americans. I look forward to when we are no longer present in Afghanistan and they go back to killing each other.

As for the internet, perhaps you are looking only in certain areas. This particular website is pretty much WASP and some, not you but others have done a good job of targeting and running off some minorities. But if you look elsewhere on the internet there are many groups of people regardless of background enjoying each others company even while disagreeing on topics. It has opened up wonderful opportunities for communication. Granted some of them are closed websites to keep out the racists, haters, trolls, etc. but still open to communication.

FredHayek wrote: It is very popular to denounce foreign aid but so often money spent overseas can do so much more. TheAtlantic.com notes that from 2004 to 2010 in Afghanistan the life expectancy has gone from 42 years to 62! Hopefully the country can maintain that after NATO troops leave.

That's excellent Fred! We made it possible for present and future terrorists/enemies to stay on the planet for an extra 20 years :woo hoo:

Rick wrote:

FredHayek wrote: It is very popular to denounce foreign aid but so often money spent overseas can do so much more. TheAtlantic.com notes that from 2004 to 2010 in Afghanistan the life expectancy has gone from 42 years to 62! Hopefully the country can maintain that after NATO troops leave.

That's excellent Fred! We made it possible for present and future terrorists/enemies to stay on the planet for an extra 20 years :woo hoo:

Or by permitting the education of women, might just be subverting the culture.

Then again, you are probably right, Iraq's civil war keeps on bubbling along, more car bombs yesterday.

FredHayek wrote: Or by permitting the education of women, might just be subverting the culture.

Then again, you are probably right, Iraq's civil war keeps on bubbling along, more car bombs yesterday.

Unless you kill all cockroaches, they will multiply... that place is doomed and so are the women who are unlucky enough to live there.