The Situation In Afghanistan

Afghanistan and the War against Terrorism

Published on July 5, 2005 By Bahu Virupaksha In Politics

The downing of the Chinook chopper a few days back came as a surprise because the war in Afghanistan is really a forgotten war with the World's attention centered on Iraq .Reality has a way of forcing itself and the incident last week did just that. The fact is that American strategy is too closely tied to the survival of the Ahmed Karzai regime and it is well known that except for Kabul and parts of Kandhahar the Afghasn National army controls little teritory. Therefore the reliance on the US troops. Unfortunately even the intelligence that is available is not reliable and there is every reason to believe that the helicopter and the ground unit that went in search of the downed chopper were actually ambushed i e they walked into a trap.

The war in Iraq has made it difficult for the US political leadership to concentrate on the hunt for Bin Laden and the remanents of the Taliban who have just melted away into the rugged mountainous territory towarsds the South.This is the region the Greeks called Gedrosia and even Alexander the Macedonian conqueror found it impossible to hold. In spite of a few publisised instances, the seizure of nacotic drugs only indicates the narco capitalism is flourishing in this country. 90% of the opium and heroin that is smuggled into Europe comes from this region. By giving cash incentives to the poppy growers to stop the cultivation of narcotic plants, the Karzai regime is actually encouraging the cultivation of Poppy. Farmers cultivate the drug surrender apart of it collect the reward and sell the rest.

Comments (Page 2)

drmiler

on Jul 07, 2005

The results reported by the sources I use are facts. The deficit is as reported.

COL you are soooooo FULL of it that it's pitiful! I have asked you 3 times to try and refute this and you have yet to do so. So I'll ask again. Try to refute this or find something else to whine about.

>Economic Growth, Tax Receipts Combine to Reduce Deficit

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 2, 2005; Page D01

An unanticipated surge of tax payments may push the 2005 federal budget deficit as much as $100 billion below official forecasts, leaving Republicans to claim vindication in their theory that lowering tax rates actually boosts tax receipts.
In addition, this week the Commerce Department reported a solid economic growth rate of 3.8 percent for the first three months of 2005, an improvement on the earlier 3.5 percent estimate and more ammunition for Republican boasts that their tax cuts are the cause of this performance.
"Sustained, strong . . . growth confirms that our policies continue to boost the economy and tax revenues," said Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), chairman of the House Budget Committee.
But senior budget analysts, including the Republican who heads the Congressional Budget Office, cautioned this week that higher tax revenues may be a one-time phenomenon that in no way addresses the nation's grave deficit challenge.
Much of the increase could stem from temporary factors, said CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Bush White House economist. The major corporate tax cut of 2004 provided a one-year "tax holiday" for multinational corporations to bring home overseas profits at a reduced tax rate, and companies may be responding aggressively. Also, a large tax break for business investment ended Dec. 31, effectively raising some corporate tax rates this year, Holtz-Eakin said.
Finally, strong stock market gains last year, coupled with lingering jitters from the market swoon of 2000, may have produced strong executive bonuses and a rush to cash in stocks and stock options, other economists said.
"I find it difficult to get as excited about this as some people" are, Holtz-Eakin said.
For longtime champions of supply-side economic theory, the excitement is palpable. Since the political rise of Ronald Reagan, such conservative economists have contended that cuts in income tax rates and in taxes on investment income would generate economic growth that would in turn produce more revenue, possibly enough to pay for the tax cuts. The theory was popularized by economist Arthur Laffer and his Laffer curve.
The government's take this tax season validates that theory, conservatives say. On a single day, June 15, the Treasury took in a record $61 billion. Through June 30, three-quarters of the way through the fiscal year, receipts indicate the Treasury will reap $80 billion to $100 billion more in taxes than the CBO predicted in January. Individual tax payments have risen 21 percent beyond their level at this time last year. Corporate tax receipts are 48 percent ahead.
Despite slightly higher-than-expected spending, the federal deficit could come in at $325 billion to $350 billion, significantly better than the White House's $427 billion projection or the CBO's $400 billion forecast. Some Wall Street economists say the deficit could be as low as $300 billion.
"The numbers are an eye-popping vindication of the Laffer curve and the Bush tax cut's real economic value," anti-tax activist Stephen Moore wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

Island Dog

on Jul 07, 2005

That's an example of how he ignores anything but his own distorted views. He will just come back and scream more about deficits no matter what.

Bahu Virupaksha

on Jan 27, 2009

I had rightly predicted that Afghanistan will be the new fronmtier of the War against Terror and the recent Obama shift vindicates what I had predicted 4 yeara back.

Rightwinger

on Jan 27, 2009

Look; I sit here in my home in West Virginia, having spent seven years, secure on my home soil. This is because the Bush Administration had done well; they held down the Islamic nutjobs and savages, keeping them in their own part of the world, by invading Iraq.

Now we have Obama, bleeding heart, socialist liberal who wants us out of Iraq for one reason: Bush was too successful there, despite the negative "this war is lost" rhetoric and blatant legislative obstacles of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller, Jack Murtha, and the rest of the anti-war Democrat propaganda machine.

Now, with the new president, I'm feeling less and less secure all the time.

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