Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion
Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute
The US is helping put wind turbines into the Panjshir Valley to help Afghanistan with alternative energy.
Aljazeera English asks if it is really working, and who would benefit:
posted by Juan Cole @ 11/22/2008 12:14:00 AM
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Winner, October 5, 2007, Scott Nearing Award for Courageous Scholarship (Awarded by the Graduate Students of the Political Science Department, University of Pennsylvania).
Winner, 2005 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Hunter College.
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4 Comments:
"asks if it is really working, and who would benefit"
That's kinda like our Wall Street bailout, except for one big difference--in Afghanistan, they could actually find an answer to those two simple questions.
Let's see. If I attack the Army, and get my friends to help, does that put my community in a better position to receive financial assistance from the US military to develop alternative energy infrastructure than if I remain a quiet, dutiful Republican or Democrat? Or does this program apply only to corrupt, oil rich countries the US occupies? Where can I get an application form?
There are close to one million solar/dynamo am/fm/sw radios in Afghanistan, distributed by US and NATO forces since before the invasion. These solar/dynamos charge only the dedicated, internal, hardwired battery but could easily be modified to charge AA, C, or D cells. This capability would supply reliable low voltage DC electricity day or night, by sunlight or muscle power. With an organized system of battery switching, a "sneaker net" DC grid could be established in many Afghani villages and households.
This idea could become what I call a solar swadeshi if we link it to the work and memory of Badshah Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgar, a Pashtun army devoted to non-violence based upon the Koranic principle of sadr or patience and the Pashtun tribal tradition of melmastia or hospitality.
It seems like Afghanistan has the perfect environmental conditions for a wind or solar system to work. I think a well designed infrastructure could easily be a model that other countries could build off of.
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