[Pan_Yan]

I admire the guy's optimism but in two years this place will look like Sarajevo's olympic venues. Once Big Sugar Uncle Sam stops sending duffle bags full of cash government officials won't be buying $300,000 homes in hard currency.

[SeeSharp]

I think they get more cash from opium than from US aid.

[DoodleDawg]

...and especially the security walls, augmented by a high-tech security system and armed guards.

I would hope that the armed guards are more trustworthy than the Afghan army is.

[Travis McGee]

There will be heads rolling soon. Thousands of heads. It will be more disgraceful than the evacuation of Saigon when the last U.S. aircraft departs.

[JerseyHighlander]

Several years ago there was a report showing that 98% of the security budget in Afghanistan was based on foreign aid or foreign direct support.

Another report showed the security industry was over 50% of the cash economy in the country.

If foreign governments don’t pony up the cash, the transition period will turn into another civil war due the collapse of any and every economic activity that requires a relatively secure and safe socioeconomic business environment.

In short, the Caravan City development is the redoubt of the future Pakistani-styled hereditary kleptocracy.

[CodeToad]

The construction in Afghanistan by Uncle Sugar has increased recently. There are all kinds of new construction projects started in the past few months. I don’t know if that is agencies spending what’s left of their accounts, investment in staying there, or simply project finally getting started that were funded last year, but the construction in certainly not winding down as though we are preparing to leave.