Homeland Sceurity Now Involved in Stopping Timber Smuggling in Afghanistan

The arrogant response by the Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration to concerns raised by travelers about radiation emitting scanning machines, and groping sessions, is enough to cause concern about Janet Napolitano's views on  freedom, private property and limited government. But now comes word that 'Homeland' Security is expanding operations in Afghanistan:

WaPo reports:

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, on a two-day visit here, said Saturday that her department plans to significantly bolster its activities in Afghanistan over the coming year, adding as many as 54 agents to the current contingent of 25.

Napolitano said her agency's work will focus on supporting border control and training Afghan officials in anti-smuggling techniques, with special emphasis on stopping illegal shipments of bulk cash. Smuggled cash is used to finance criminal activities and to hide profits gained from corruption and drug trafficking.

She told journalists at the U.S. Embassy that the "significant increase in capability" by her department was intended to ensure a smooth transition from military to civilian oversight of border and customs control, anti-smuggling efforts and other operations as the United States begins to withdraw its troops over the next several years.

The cash, drugs, precious gems, historic artifacts and timber smuggled out of Afghanistan are a huge drain on its economy, with hundreds of millions of dollars a year leaving the country illegally. Many items exit Afghanistan by land, but bulk cash is often smuggled by air to Dubai and to other destinations

It's not exactly clear how smuggling would be a drain on the Afghan economy. It actually provides an outlet from government suffocation of an economy. It results in the supplying of products that others desire and puts cash in the hands of Afghans. Where exactly is the problem and why the hell, under any stretch of the mandate of the Department of Homeland Security, should Napolitano be concerned about this? Yes, I know that Customs is part of thDHS. U.S. Customs! It should be abolished here, not expanded in Afghanistan.

To make things totally absurd, Napolitano met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is as crooked as they get and probably runs half the smuggling operations himself. Documents made public by WikiLeaks’ latest file drop show that Karzai pulled strings several times throughout early 2009 to free numerous drug traffickers with whom he had political or economic ties

It has also recently been discovered through Wikileaks that the president's half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, landed in Dubai with $52 million in cash.

How is this in any different from Napolitano sitting down with Bernie Madoff to discuss financial statement design, when he was out and scamming?

Napolitano also said, according to WaPo, that while Afghan and U.S. officials are working together to shut down illegal smuggling, they are eager to facilitate legal trade and make Afghanistan into a transit hub for regional commerce. How can this mean anything other than shipments will be allowed by those favored by the United States government, and only those favored by USG? And, one should never ask how one gets favored status when it comes to Afghanistan, or the buying of radiation emitting scanning machines.