On the road
KABUL: There's a saying in Afghanistan - which I put to President Karzai and Mr Blair in a news conference this morning - that "those in the West have all the watches, but we in Afghanistan have all the time".
I mentioned it because the question remains whether the Taleban might just wait until the international community goes away, and then simply come back. Mr Karzai answered by saying that, yes, they do have time in Afghanistan, but that meant they had the time to rebuild the country. He said that the journey we had made this morning, from Helmand province to the capital, and which took us just an hour by air, would have taken up to 40 hours to complete by road just three years ago. Now, he said, thanks to the reconstruction, the journey could be made by road in five hours.
Whether there is enough time to bring the Afghan people on side is matter for debate, of course, as the views of Nato commander Lt Gen David Richards make plain.
I'm 
Comments
This may be irrelevant but the last few bloggs have included references to percentages distance and time??...Is there some hidden logic contained therein? Perhaps not.
Interestingly these last 3 bloggs are interwoven. One cannot mention Iraq without knowing the influences of Iran Syria Saudia and for Afghanistan Iran Pakistan and India. Sadly these are both battlegrounds for each of those countries ...Theatres on whose stage the various players are acting. The vital link is obvious. Secure the borders.
The road to Kabul,There is no doubt that the thought of an Afghanistan and Iraq left to the mercy of extremist is the thought that could change the direction of these countries.At this present time the general public see the Afghan and Iraq situation as unacceptable,most of this opposition stems from the begining of these actions when several people said that the occupation of these countries would be difficult to sustain.There is a lesson here?failed campaigns are always the ones that dont have the total support of the public.T.B.has got to consult with the British public,he has got to be prepared to accept that there were mistakes made and he then has to convince the public that it is in the security of Britain that we stay the course in Afghan and Iraq.The media has got to open up and allow the public to see the desperation that exists.Nothing more than honesty is the best policy now.
that "those in the West have all the watches, but we in Afghanistan have all the time".
You could have added, "we live here" also.
"He [Blair] told reporters he believed Afghan people deserved to live in a democratic country without oppression."
I'm waiting for him to tell reporters that he believes British people deserve to live in a democratic country without oppression.
Why can't we elect all our Parliamentarians? Why do we have 4,000,000 CCTV cameras spying on us constantly? Wouldn't it be great to live in a country where freedom was cherished instead of manacled?
Mr Karzai is very entertaining. Did he mention that travelling by air is so much safer than travelling by road - as well as being somewhat quicker?
Given that the average Afghan is not in any particular hurry and can wait - as doubtless we'll see with the Taleban - what difference does the splendid new road system make? And do we see a demand for high traffic flows from Helmand to the capital? I doubt it.
Strategically, of course, the road has other uses and values...
"secure the borders" Chud?
The place is 3 times the size of the UK , and filled with some of the least hospitable terrain on Earth. We could easily quadruple the size of our forces in Afghanistan and we wouldn't come close to it. Not that we'd have ny right to do so even if we could.
Give people a viable alternative to growing poppies, so that there is no need for a Taleban, or foreign intervention to get at them. Now thats an underlooked at idea. It was after all "the plan".
The Taliban insurgents are totally evil and need to be decimated: reconstruction in Afghanistan will take an extremely long time as vital infrastructure has to be rebuilt. President Karzai is a godsend for the country and his people but will need all the support he can muster at home and abroad. The problem is that the Taliban are very wily and fierce fighters who know the terrain so very well and it is so difficult to dislodge them. Let us hope President Karkai can lead his country to peace and security but the road will be extremely difficult.