New York Times Calls for Economic Shock Doctrine in Afghanistan

An editorial in Friday’s New York Times advocates for Hamid Karzai to hand over responsibility for economic redevelopment of Afghanistan from the United Nations to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Such a move would do nothing more than complete the rape of Afghanistan by the west and institute policies that Naomi Klein documented in The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

The editorial opens by noting recent tensions between Karzai and the US, suggesting that the upcoming visit by Karzai to Washington should be used to reduce tensions while encouraging Karzai to improve his efforts to eliminate corruption in his government. But then the Times launches into its horribly wrong and unsolicited advice:

While that’s going on, Mr. Obama also needs to open a second, less sensitive front in the anticorruption campaign. He should urge Mr. Karzai to ask the United Nations (which Mr. Karzai now implausibly blames for last year’s presidential election fraud) to hand responsibility for overseeing Afghanistan’s economic development to others more proficient in handling money.

The United Nations has enough to do to help strengthen Afghanistan’s political institutions, oversee elections (a new Parliament will be chosen in September) and ensure that humanitarian relief gets where it is needed.

The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank could all do a better job of monitoring, auditing and coordinating the billions of dollars of international aid flowing into Afghanistan.

Oh, yes. Bringing the IMF and World Bank into the equation is "less sensitive" only to those who haven’t read Naomi Klein. For those who have read The Shock Doctrine, this move by the Times amounts to a request to declare open season for the west to exploit the vast sums of relief money flowing into Afghanistan and to then follow up by exploiting the natural resources there

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