Another key point in the GOP debate that went unnoticed by much of the press was when Jon Huntsman lamented that Americans spend blood and treasure in Afghanistan, but China walks away with the mining concession. It’s a good point, of course, but what Huntsman doesn’t seem to realize is that China paid Afghanistan’s minister of mining something like a $10 million bribe to get that concession.
So, for Huntsman: Do we replicate China’s embrace of dysfunctional corruption and start paying bribes or do we keep them out of Afghanistan all together and, if so, how? Alas, sometimes the issues look much more sanitary when sitting in the bubble of the American embassy, rather than being out and on the ground.
Mr. Rubin, your post highlights a very important lesson that the U.S. should hopefully have learned from its experience in Iraq and Afghanistan: so long as U.S. forces are needed to preserve order and general security, there can be no transition to full, civilian authority. n nSo, when it comes to awarding mining concessions in A-stan, for example, the Afghans can't have it both ways. If they want the U.S. forces there to keep the insurgents from overrunning the country, then the U.S. has an appropriate say-so over mining concessions, or at least ensuring that the bidding is fair and open to all comers, including U.S. companies. If the Afghans don't want the U.S. intruding into their corrupt practices, then they can either provide their own military security on their own dime, or pass along every cent of the Chinese money to the U.S. Treasury as reimbursement.