A Discouraging View of How Military Operations Hinder Development from Occuring in Afghanistan

There is lots going wrong in Afghanistan - one of which is the inability to get development to occur at a faster rate.  As a part of the counterinsurgency strategy - providing services (electricity, schools, roads, irrigation, medical clinics, etc.) through new development projects is supposed to tie the local populace in the rural areas to the district and provincial governments - thereby generating support for the central government (you know, the one run by Karzai and his corrupt cronies).  There are many reasons cited for development not progressing as fast as it should.  Security is the main reason - it is hard to build roads if the roads are mined with IEDs and the workers threatened, kidnapped, or killed.  These development projects sometimes have to provide for their own security so private security firms are contracted for - using a good portion of the development funds.  Corruption is another problem.  The Afghan governmental system is rife with corrupt officials from Karzai down to the lowest level.  One particular journalist, Mark Curtis, writing for the British newspaper - The Guardian - lays the blame on the military and military operations.  Read his view in "Afghanistan is being stifled by military operations",  The Guardian, February 19, 2011.