An image of the Kajaki Dam, built by U.S. engineers in the 1950s, March 23, 2011 in Kajaki, Aghanistan. Rajiv Chandrasekaran/The Washington Post/Getty Images
A Dam Shame: What A Stalled Hydropower Project Says About Failures In Afghanistan -- Time
To be filed under: You have got to be kidding me.
One of US Aid’s biggest projects in Afghanistan, the $128 million rehabilitation of a key hydroelectric power plant launched in 2002, might never reach its potential wattage. Because, well, nine years on folks are starting to wonder if it might not be cost effective to build in a war zone.
The Guardian’s Jon Boon writes this week about the fate of Helmand Province’s Kajaki Dam Hydroelectric project after USAid budget cuts put the project in peril. As it stands, a $3million turbine, hauled by British troops 100 miles through enemy territory in one of “the most daring operation of its kind since the second world war,” sits moldering in its original crates a couple hundred meters from where it could be pumping out much needed electricity for the region.
Read more ....
Update: US cuts put British-backed Afghan hydropower project in doubt -- The Guardian
My Comment: Many on the left (as well as aid organizations) have always pushed the idea that aid projects should be one of the strategies used in war/conflict zones. But as the above article clearly reveals .... and no surprise to me .... it just does not work. In fact .... it's failure only helps to demoralize our allies and embolden our enemies. When you go to war .... you go to war. You break things, kill the enemy, and assist our allies .... and you do it without reservations or second guessing. This pussy-footing around in Afghanistan has only prolonged the conflict .... brought immense suffering to millions of people .... and shows no sign of ending.
Building a hydro electric plant in the middle of a war zone .... you got to be kidding me (I am shaking my head). If we (and our allies) are not willing to win .... then .... as I have mentioned many times before .... why are we still there?