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Published Thursday, March 9, 2007
Geopolitical lesson of the week: Just because you ignore it, doesn't mean it'll go away. NATO finally acknowledged the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan — worrisome for months — with renewed troop strikes. Meanwhile, Hugo Chávez's bark began to carry bite in the southern hemisphere; President Bush's recognition of the US' plummeting goodwill in the region has sent him on an extended Latin American image-updating tour. For Americans at home, crisis at Walter Reed Army Medical Center reopened war wounds and reminded all of the oft-ignored costs, both physical and mental, of protracted military conflict.
But in Russia, problems don't get ignored — they get deleted. Last week, a journalist's deadly five-story fall led to accusations of state-ordered assassination. And in California, they don't sweep problems aside, they bring them inside. A bumper crop of homegrown marijuana suggests that soccer moms may be tending to more than kids in suburbia.
This week NATO launched its largest operation against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, sending more than 4,500 troops into the lawless Helmand province. Officials stated that the assault is designed both to undermine the Taliban insurgency and to stem the tide of foreign militants streaming across Afghanistan's southern border. The province also serves as a hub for the opium trade, acting as a safe haven for traffickers beyond the reach of the government.
The Helmand region is also home to the Kajaki dam, a powerful — and dormant — hydroelectric installation. As civilian casualties mount, the government and coalition allies view the rehabilitation of such vital infrastructure as essential, ensuring continued popular support for the fight.
