Obama is about to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan something an expert likens to "throwing lives and money down a rat hole." Things are more and more coming to resemble the quagmire of Vietnam.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009...

The Drug War:

War in Afghanistan is and always will be linked at the wrist to the Drug
War. Strange how production, distribution and sale of Afghan opium has increased since the invasion and appointment of Karzai as President. (see article below regarding Karzai's brother, a reputed heroin kingpin) The Taliban (in collaberation with the U.N.) had banned the growing of opium in areas under their control when they were in power and now they're accused of reaping all the profits and using those to conduct war and terrorism.
Cultivation in 2006 reached a record 165,000 hectares compared with 104,000 in 2005 and 7,606 in 2001 under the Taliban.

The truth seems lurk somewhere in the murky middle with the Taliban, Karzai government and of course the C.I.A. profiting from the drug trade.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...