The Karzai Mafia strikes again

If anyone needed proof that the Karzai government functions more like a mafia organization than a valid, popularly supported government one need only visit the following URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/world/asia/20karzai.html?pagewanted=3&th&emc=th

This New York Times story reads more like a novel. A young man calmly doing his homework with his sister is shot multiple times, allegedly by a family member. This would not have attracted much attention—how many gun-shot deaths occur daily in Afghanistan—except for the fact that the family in question is from the village of Karz. It's the First Family of Karz known as Karzai. Yes, it's President Karzai's family that is directly involved. It's a story of honor killings, revenge killings, and involvement in the country's principal export, drugs.

For all the patina of civilization we coat over that country, it remains a primitive, tribal-based autocracy. Personally, I wouldn't care a fig for that country were it not for the fact its Taliban terrorists provide safe havens for al-Qaeda killers and absorbs hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that we could use here at home. Oh, yes, another reason—we have our men and women over there putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. Yeah, that's good reason for giving a fig.