What do Afghans view as the cause of the conflict?
I just got back from Afghanistan in July, and spent some time in one of the southern provinces, Urozgan, which is quite badly affected by the insurgency. I was interviewing Afghans on their perceptions of insecurity and of aid. It was interesting the number of people who thought that what was fueling insecurity was not the Taliban, but their own corrupt and ineffective government. I think this is one of the real problems in Afghanistan. It’s not necessarily that the Taliban are winning, it’s that the government is losing. It’s the government that we help support and that we are closely affiliated with that is viewed as corrupt and predatory by many Afghans. In some areas, that is leading some Afghans to start reminiscing and say, “When the Taliban were in charge there were problems. But we didn’t have these warlords, and we had some form of justice. And the police then weren’t ripping us off.” How did we get into this mess? Certainly early on serious mistakes were made. A few weeks aft
