Dubious Predictions of Doom
By ANN MARLOWE
THE latest news reports all seem to agree: Afghanistan is falling apart. Once again, pack journalism is trying to shape our foreign policy.
A prime example is Pamela Constable’s report in the June 6 Washington Post: “Many Afghans and some foreign supporters say they are losing faith in President Hamid Karzai’s government, which is besieged by an escalating insurgency and endemic corruption and is unable to protect or administer large areas of the country.”
Well, so what else is new? Karzai has always been weak and ineffectual (if well-dressed); government control has always varied in Afghanistan from region to region – and, like most developing countries, Afghanistan has always been plagued by corruption. But suddenly, the pack has decided that the country is “on the brink of chaos” with the same lack of perspective that once fed its infatuation with Karzai.