Unfinished Business

Remember Afghanistan? Not all peaches and cream yet:

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres says it will pull out from Afghanistan because of the killing of five of its staff and the risk of further attacks.

The group said in a statement it was also unhappy with a government inquiry into the 2 June deaths.

The statement accused US-led forces in Afghanistan of using humanitarian aid for "military and political motives".

The Nobel prize-winning agency has continued to operate through the country's upheavals for 24 years.

This is bad news for all involved. It demonstrates the inability (or perhaps the unwillingness) of the current regime to provide even minimal levels of physical security in the country, and the escalation of random violence in an environment that was never particularly safe.

We're not talking about some small Latin American country pulling out troops, or the French or Germans having another attack of consicence. This is an apolitical relief organization that has done phenomenal work in the world's most dangerous places, and is announcing that under the current conditions in Afghanistan, it can do no more. That is serious.

Here's their official statement.