Tax Expats Supporting Afghan Aid Projects

New York Times ^ | October 2, 2009 | PETER BERGEN and SAMEER LALWANI

[MadJack]

THE top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, is right to warn that efforts to rebuild that country depend on winning the “struggle to gain the support of the people.” And few issues do more to stoke the resentment of ordinary Afghans than the tens of billions of dollars of foreign aid from which they have seen little or no benefit.

Peter Bergen is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. Sameer Lalwani is a research fellow there.

[MadJack]

Yes, by all means let's establish another revenue stream for Karzai and his friends to dip their hands into. What Mr. Bergen and his little friend Sameer don't bother to tell us about is the current Afghan tax structure. Does it work? Do Dostum and the other warlords pay their fair share? I somehow doubt it.

[element92]

Long past the time,
to get out