War Notes: November 4, 2009

Abdullah Abdullah brought closure to the 2009 Afghan presidential campaign, saying that despite the fraudulent August 20th election, "The process has completed itself with that final, illegal decision." Abdullah questioned Karzai's ability to lead the country, but sounded as if he would fade into the background in the coming months. If things get worse, cue his "I told you so" entrance."

In its continuing efforts to sound tough, Reuters reports that the United States is looking for Karzai to "arrest and prosecute corrupt government officials." The article itself does not attribute such a quote to anyone- it rather appears as an editorial lede. Indeed, there is a difference between forming an anti-corruption commission, which will be a farce, and actually prosecuting people. Given the corruption of the Afghan judicial system itself, and the tenuous grip Karzai has on the country, anydog and pony corruption prosecution to please Americans would undoubtadly target someone of minimal importance.

Russia is joining the war effort- by selling helicoptors for a profit to NATO forces. The website Defence Talk reports, "During its operations in Afghanistan, the alliance has faced an acute shortage of helicoptors. In Afghanistan's extremely harsh conditions, helicoptors often break down and need replacements even in non-combat situations." Is it really too much to ask for our $680,000,000,000 Pentagon budget to produce helicoptors we can use in combat, let alone, non-combat situations? Now we have to buy them from the Russians, the very people NATO was formed to create a security alliance against. This article makes the interesting observation that despite its regional interest in the conflict, Russia has largely been sitting on the sidelines. Should the Taliban, or a generally non-western group come to power, Russia wants to be able to tell them, "Look, we were just trying to make a quick buck selling helicoptors. You can work with us..." Then of course, there is the final irony that we are buying Russian helicoptors for their effectiveness after spending the 80s supplying the future Taliban with the surface to air rockets capable of taking their helicoptors down. And the beat goes on...