[Zviadist]

Marshall-Plan type programs probably work best when a country is completely destitute, a description that fits Afghanistan to a "T".

How can you possibly say that, when the Marshal Plan targeted some of the most industrially-developed countries on earth at the time? Besides, most of the Marshal Plan was a political "denazification" plan, not the the physical rebuilding that most mistake it for. The Euros rebuilt their own continent for the most part after the war.

This wonderful new "Marshal plan" for Afghanistan will in the main go to bribe politicians and to pay high-priced American consultants. That has been the story of our aid to foreign countries and I have seen little to convince me that anything has changed.

[NewAmsterdam]

Absolutely spot on! You beat me to it; I was going to comment on that misunderstanding. The whole point about the economic Marshall plan in Western Europe was to go back to normal as quickly as possible, i.e. capitalism, industrialism and international trade. It was a useful kick-start but the real work was of course done by the West-European nations themselves. As far as I know, the Afghani's are not known for international derivative trading or producing the latest pocket-size DVD-player, or whatever.

[dirtboy]

How can you possibly say that, when the Marshal Plan targeted some of the most industrially-developed countries on earth at the time?

By the time we were done bombing Japan and Europe, there wasn't much left of their industrial development. I have mixed feelings about an Afghani version of the Marshall Plan - but not because of the ability of America to carry out such a program, but because of my concerns about the willingness of the Afghani tribes to adapt to such a program. Pundits talk about twenty years of war in Afghanistan, but war has been part of Afghanistan since time immemorial. It's just a matter of who they're shooting at - outsiders or each other - and any economic development aid, under those circumstances, will accomplish little...