Iraq, Afghanistan Top "Failed States"

"Iraq and Afghanistan, the two main fronts in the global war on terror, both suffered over the past year," according to the third 2007 Failed States Index, a report published annually by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace.

"Their experiences show that billions of dollars in development and security aid may be futile unless accompanied by a functioning government, trustworthy leaders, and realistic plans to keep the peace and develop the economy."

The index, said Iraq suffered a third straight year of deterioration in 2006 with diminished results across a range of social, economic, political and military indicators. Iraq ranked fourth last year.

Four years after the US invasion of Iraq, the country is gripped by a bloody sectarian strife between Shiites and Sunnis with dozens killed from both communities on a daily basis.

The US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said last month that the Bush administration was mistaken when it bragged about successful reconstruction projects in chaos-mired Iraq as first-hand visits discovered crumpling and non-operating facilities that cost millions of dollars.

And More than five years after the US-led overthrow of Taliban and the advent of a US-backed government, Afghanistan is still so destitute and undeveloped that most inhabitants have no central heating, electricity or running water.

In the capital Kabul, the majority of locals are living in slums, which receive electricity only a few hours every other night, assuming that they are wired at all.

The index used 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators to rank 177 failed states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration.

It said the problems that plague failing states are generally all too similar: rampant corruption, predatory elites who have long monopolized power, an absence of the rule of law, and severe ethnic or religious divisions.

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