U.N. head despondent over Afghan situation

In a candid report to the fifteen-member Council, Ban Ki-moon conceded that Afghanistan's flawed presidential election process was only part of the problem; he stressed, “together with the deteriorating security situation, the protracted electoral process has contributed to a gloomy atmosphere. If negative trends are not corrected, there is a risk that the deteriorating overall situation will become irreversible.”

“To reverse negative trends, a more focused and better coordinated international effort is urgently needed.” he opined. Ban added warily, “There is a need for a change of mindset in the international community as well as the government of Afghanistan. Without that change, prospects of success will diminish further.”

Another international conference on Afghanistan is set for London at the end of the month. Here major donor states, such as the United States, European Union and Japan will once again pledge reconstruction resources and cite the tired mantra of having to try harder to surmount the near-Herculean difficulties facing this South Asian land.

Ironically, London will also later host a similar gathering dealing with the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, which I see as the re-discovered crisis de jour, long overlooked by the West, but now confronting us. Despite massive foreign humanitarian assistance and a large commitment of American and European military forces to stem the tide of Taliban and Al-Qaida terror, the entrenched problems in the country remain in the form of a corrupt and ineffective central government, if you could charitably call it that, a massive narcotics trade, and the undertow of Islamic fundamentalism to thwart the “modernizing trends” of the West.

Though the Al-Qaida elements present a clear and present danger to Europe and America, it's not entirely certain that current troop levels or more significantly the military rules of engagement confronting the terrorists, are really up to the threat level. Pursuing a successful counter-insurgency with the Obama Administration's politically correct constraints is in itself a recipe for disaster on the installment plan.

The recent killings of seven CIA operatives by an al-Qaida double agent, the deaths of four Canadian soldiers and a newspaper correspondent, and the steady attrition of American and British forces, illustrates the depths of ongoing violence. The fanaticism which we confront will not disappear by persuasion of the enemy but by defeating him.

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