1) To nobody’s surprise, Somalia is the most corrupt country on earth—followed closely by Iraq and Afghanistan. Transparency International wrote in its report, “When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control.” The task, then, for America is institution building—but is it willing to spend the time and effort to create civil institutions in Afghanistan (and Iraq, though if all goes to plan we’ll be out by 2012)? I’m skeptical, and I’m even more skeptical that it’s a vital American interest.
2) FP says there are “no good choices in Afghanistan.” Buried in the last paragraph is the key: “Our analysis clearly shows that the time for the stabilization of Afghanistan, if such time existed at all, has passed. The deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan shows little chance of either ending the insurgency or sustaining Afghan democracy.”
Here’s a crazy idea: redraw the borders. The Durand Line is an awful border anyway, and it splits the Pashtuns between Afghanistan and Pakistan for no good reason. It’s a product of the late 19th century Russo-British Great Game, and has never served as a significant historical boundary. The partitioning of Afghanistan makes more sense than trying to build a cohesive, modern state with a strong centralized government in Kabul.
3) The colorful beliefs of Pakistanis—Americans are committing the terrorist acts in Peshawar, etc—are tackled in Dawn by Hajrah Mumtaz.
4) Militant Somali Islamist groups continue their campaign to look worse than the Taliban.
5) Haaretz reports that a Gilad Shalit deal may go down in the next week. How many times have we heard that before?
