Nation Building: Roads, Laws, Cops, Jobs And The Challenges Of The Afghan Surge

KANDAHAR, Afghanista­n -- "Take a look at this," Tom Symalla says, reaching down to yank at a piece of gravel poking out from the surface of Morghan Road. It tears loose easily, exposing bare dirt beneath the engineer's boots.

He speculates with some U.S. soldiers and another engineer on what this means about how well this one road -- out of thousands and thousands of miles of roads here -- might be paved. Single coat of gravel, or two coats?

"That could be double," John Swanson, the convoy's other engineer, says over his shoulder.
"Well, no, that looks single," Symalla replies, snapping a photo. He's clearly frustrated­. The road's contractor­s had agreed to lay down two coats of gravel.

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This past year I've had to had my windshield replaced twice and my wheels realigned and rebalanced twice due to the crumbling roads in the region where I live and the lack of road maintenanc­e funding (I live in one of the richest regions in the nation).

In my immediate area, the roads department has decided to either bulldoze or abandon maintainin­g about 2000 roads because it can't afford to keep them up.  
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