After more than a decade in Afghanistan, there are still lingering problems in our effort to root out terrorists and establishing a stable, honest government. Rampant corruption in the Karzai regime, dealing with fickle war lords and trying too hard to make nice with the Afghans continue to frustrate us. One of the most maddening developments in the past 11 years has been the U.S. essentially subsidizing the activity of those trying to kill us. In his new book “Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban”, reporter Doug Wissing explains how our policy has been flawed from the beginning and how recent efforts to correct it have been largely unsuccessful. He also addresses the question of whether the Afghan culture is too corrupt to avoid some of our huge financial commitment ending up in the wrong hands.
