A number of harsh realities have to be borne in mind when analysing the Afghan question. First, in spite of five years of ‘pacification’, and $100 billion poured into the country–often in the shape of bombs–Afghanistan is still number five on the list of the world’s poorest countries. Next, whereas in 2001, and thanks to the Taliban’s anti-drug policy, opium cultivation had been reduced to 8,000 hectares of Afghan territory, today it covers 165,000!⁽¹⁾ There is no more glaring proof of the West’s failure in this land. Last, the appalling fact should not be forgotten that 70 per cent of Afghans suffer from psychiatric problems,⁽²⁾ after so many years of war. The heroin and opium available everywhere provide some form of relief for this mental distress: as a result, of a population of 28 million, at least one million are drug addicts.

The state of physical and mental wretchedness of the Afghan people and the West’s failure to provide a solution have to be borne constantly in mind when attempting to make a sound analysis of the future of the world’s most disinherited country.

Why Intervene in Afghanistan?

Since 2001 we have had the ‘war against terrorism’ drummed into us. We have been deluged with images of swashbuckling troops, well-fed and equipped with priceless materiel, conducting skilful operations against a nebulous thing called ‘terrorism’. However, this amorphous entity takes on more definite shape when, as in Iraq or Afghanistan, nationalist sentiment joins hands with inspired religious fanaticism to create a war of liberation against the interventionists who have become invaders. An absurd duel has transpired, that of the sledgehammer against a fly whose constant movement allows it to avoid being crushed.