What the West fought for

The BBC’s news programme File on 4 today ran a feature on aid to Afghanistan since the war, and reveals how difficult Afghanistan has become to live in since the fall of the Taliban. Under the Karzai régime, corruption has become rampant, with massive amounts of the people’s wealth being sucked up in bribes to officials (one truck driver reported having to pay $600 in such bribes to foul-mouthed police bandits when transporting goods across the country) and roads and schools crumbling after a year or two because they were built with sub-standard materials sourced through corrupt contractors. This isn’t to pine for the Taliban, of course, but it seems a lot of Afghanis are doing just that. (You can listen to it here with RealPlayer until the next programme on Tuesday, and a transcript may appear here shortly.)