Afghanistan, the stalemate continues, Part 13
Tue, 2009-02-24 14:35
#1
Afghanistan, the stalemate continues, Part 13
Tue, 2009-02-24 14:40
#2
"A third Afghan child died Tuesday, following a deadly blast that is being blamed on Canadian troops.
The child has been identified by hospital officials as four-year-old Juma Gul.
The explosion killed two other Afghan children when it went off on Monday."
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Tue, 2009-02-24 19:34
#3
"An estimated four million Afghans live in communities affected by land mines or unexploded ordnance (UXO), and Afghanistan has the world's highest proportion of handicapped people after Cambodia. The total number of people killed or injured by landmines and UXO is estimated to be approximately 100,000 since 1979, including over 5,000 incidents since 2001. Records indicate that over 90% of Afghans who fall victim to landmines/UXO are male, 50% of the incidents are caused by UXO and most shockingly, over 50% of all victims are children under the age of 18."
http://www.undp.org.af/MDGs/AfghanMDGs-ProgressataGlance.pdf
Tue, 2009-02-24 19:40
#4
"Here's where we say those immortal words-‘don't step on anything pointy.'" Mark's cheerful words were not the comprehensive advice I had expected as I stepped into my first unmarked UXO (unexploded ordinance) field. But I did not question them, and I stepped lightly and carefully in the footsteps of Mark Holyrod, a de-mining expert contracted to remove landmines, rockets, bombs and other explosives from the grounds of the Afghan 17th Corps base in Herat, Afghanistan. We crossed from the edge of the path with the white stones (cleared area) to the line of blue stones (unexploded ordinance) running right next to it.
.......
As in many unmarked mine-fields in Afghanistan, children enter to play; shepherds wander in with their sheep. Poor farmers gather UXO's for their brass fittings, worth $4 per kilo as scrap. Years after the fighting has stopped, perhaps decades after the rockets were fired and mines were laid, these explosives continue to kill. There are no reliable statistics but there may be 10 landmine and UXO casualties every day in Afghanistan."
http://www.newpartisan.com/home/letter-from-afghanistan-dont-step-on-anything-pointy.html
Tue, 2009-02-24 19:41
#5
______________________________________________________________________________________________
We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Tue, 2009-02-24 22:05
#6
[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12412][color=mediu..., Jihadis and America's Killer Drones[/u][/b][/color][/url]
Claiming that increased troop levels "will contribute to the security of the Afghan people," the White House studiously ignores reports from the United Nations, international human rights organizations--and from NATO itself--that the number of civilians killed by all armed actors increased dramatically over the previous year. . .Meanwhile, on the "Pak" side of the "Afpak theatre" America's former "best friends forever," the Pakistani Taliban grouped under the banner of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law, TNSM) have been doing some "surging" of their own.
Having successfully concluded a "truce" with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari in the North-West Frontier Province's Malakand District, the nominally secular Pakistan Peoples Party has ceded the political ground to Army and Inter Services Intelligence agency-linked militants with long-standing ties to international terrorist outfits and drug trafficking cartels. In other words, American allies.
But before the ink on the agreement had even dried, a television journalist with Pakistan's Geo network, Musa Khan Khel, covering TNSM head honcho Maulana Sufi Mohammed's triumphant entry into Mingora February 17, was brutally murdered. Riddled with bullets, his nearly decapitated body was found on the side of a road shortly after the TNSM leader announced that "peace" had come to the Swat Valley. Khel, according to reports, had been seeking an interview with TTP "emir" Maulana Fazlullah.The News reported February 20 that TNSM leaders are meeting with their TTP counterparts to seal the deal to lay down their arms in lieu of the imposition of Sharia law in Malakand.
In 2001, the "peacemaker" and self-proclaimed "Sharia-lover" had led some 10,000 untrained volunteers across the border into Afghanistan to fight the American-led narcotrafficking Northern Alliance during the initial stages of the U.S. invasion. Drawn from madrassas across Pakistan as disposable cannon-fodder for the ISI, thousands were killed.
Fri, 2009-02-27 19:44
#7
I agree with Byers and Malalai Joya, that Afghans need aid and assistance, and also to stop being vicious toadies to uncle Sam and the empire's agenda for propping up a criminal narco regime in Kabul.
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:11
#8
Estimates put Taliban force at 10,000 to 15,000
"Afghanistan's interior minister says there may be between 10,000 and 15,000 Taliban fighting inside his country, and the insurgent group is operating across about 17 provinces."
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:19
#9
The lads should be home by next week, if that's all there are. What about those CIA funded madrassas in the border region and inside Pakistan? Arent they still training Islamic gladios for special raiding parties into Chechnya, China, and Kashmir and stirring the pot?
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:23
#10
Do the Gladios conduct their raids from Pakistan or do they operate out of the country they are attacking?
How many Gladios do you believe there are in world?
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:32
#11
Fidel
Are you familiar with the Afghanistan Justice Project ?
Here is one of thier reports.
War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978-2001
"The Afghanistan Justice Project (AJP) was established in late 2001 as an independent research and advocacy organization whose objective is to document serious war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all of the parties during the conflict in Afghanistan, 1978-2001."
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:37
#12
No idea, really. I see Obama hasnt even mentioned shutting down WHINSEC university for terrorism. And the Pentagon has lost track of at least a trillion dollars in taxpayer funding since 1999 or so. So much money lost and pilfered in that country that it's impossible to tell. I have a sense that Pakistan's ISI and CIA both wouldnt mind very much at all if the Taliban were to seize power in Afghanistan. I think if the USSA ever does pull out of Central Asia, the right people will be left in power and possible an excuse for a return visit. Afghanistan will subsist in the shadows of failed statehood for some time to come, kinda like Haiti and all those Central American countries off uncle Sam's back stoop where a handful few rich people run the show and large majority live in grinding poverty.
Fri, 2009-02-27 23:59
#13
I agree with Canadian John Ryan, that the Soviets probably should have simply continued to supply the PDPA with weapons to continue resisting against the estimated 35,000 mercenaries from over 40 countries and Afghan warlords and drug barons. And even if they had lost to the well funded and armed mujahideen, the seeds of resistance would have been planted. Millions fled Afghanistan when the CIA-backed Gulbuddin Kekmatyar began tearing the country apart from stern to stem.
[url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/104.html][color=red][b][u]Afghan... A Forgotten Chapter[/u][/b][/color][/url]
By John Ryan, Canadian Dimension,
November/December 2001
I was in Afghanistan on an agricultural research project in October and November of 1978. Through Kabul University I conducted my research project with the assistance of an agriculture professor. A Marxist government had come to power only six months before, so I was there at a significant period in the country's history.
The bulk of Afghanistan's people in the 1970s were farmers, but the landholding system hadn't changed much since the feudal period. More than three quarters of the land was owned by landlords who comprised only three per cent of the rural population. The king was deposed in 1973, but no land reform came about and the new government was autocratic, corrupt and unpopular. On April 27, 1978, to prevent the police from attacking a huge demonstration in front of the presidential palace, the army intervened, and after firing a single shot from a tank at the palace, the government resigned. The military officers then invited the Marxist party to form the government, under the leadership of Noor Mohammed Taraki, a university professor.
This is how a Marxist government came into office -- it was a totally indigenous happening -- not even the CIA blamed the U.S.S.R. for this. The government began to bring in much-needed reforms, but with restraint and prudence. Labour unions were legalized, a minimum wage was established, a progressive income tax was introduced, men and women were given equal rights, and girls were encouraged to go to school. On September 1, 1978, there was an abolition of all debts owed by farmers. A program was being developed for major land reform, and it was expected that all farm families (including landlords) would be given the equivalent of equal amounts of land. . .
Afghan Marxists have claimed that one of their countrymen, Hafizullah Amin, while on visits to the U.S., had been converted by the CIA and became their agent in the Taraki government. He worked his way to the top, and, as defence minister, in September, 1979, carried out a coup, took over the government, and had Taraki killed. All his loyal supporters were killed, jailed, or exiled. He then proceeded to undermine and discredit the Marxist government. He enacted draconian laws against the Muslim clergy, to purposefully further alienate them. Progressive reforms were halted and thousands of people were jailed.
Sat, 2009-02-28 00:19
#14
M. Spector
"The stalemate continues"? WTF?
Webgear, do you refuse to acknowledge that "we" are losing the war?
Sat, 2009-02-28 00:38
#15
M. Spector
[url=http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=840][color=mediumblue][u]Here's an actual working link to that crap article by Staples and Byers.[/u][/color][/url]
I agree with Byers and Malalai Joya, that Afghans need aid and assistance, and also to stop being vicious toadies to uncle Sam and the empire's agenda for propping up a criminal narco regime in Kabul.
So you agree with Byers that CIDA should provide more reconstruction, the RCMP should do more to assist with the training of the Afghan police, and we should provide instructors to help train the Afghan National Army?
[b]How is that not propping up the criminal narco regime in Kabul?[/b]
And you agree with Byers that the Harpocons ought to buy into Hillary Clinton's so-called "smart power diplomacy" and offer to contribute to her efforts?
[b]How is that not being vicious toadies to Uncle Sam?[/b]
Sat, 2009-02-28 00:53
#16
M. Spector
Byers is a real piece of work.
Why should we say no to any request by Obomba/Clinton to continue the “mission” beyond 2011?
Byers doesn’t say it’s because it’s wrong for us to be there in the first place. It’s just that our troops are too “worn out”. Otherwise, I’m sure, he’d be happy to oblige the Pentagon.
Byers thinks Obomba’s appointment of [url=http://www.counterpunch.org/frank07252007.html][color=mediumblue][u]Richard Holbrooke[/u][/color][/url] as envoy to Afghanistan is a good thing.
Byers says we can pull troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 “with our heads held high” because we held up “our share of the combat burden” and “helped prop up the Afghan mission after the Bush administration became distracted”!!!!
Can there be any doubt any longer that Byers is a "vicious toady to Uncle Sam"?
Sat, 2009-02-28 00:56
#17
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Saying+Obama+politely/1296976/story.html
According to Michael Byers, the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia and former NDP candidate, Canada should continue have a presence in Afghanistan after 2011.
"Within this much broader conception of power, there is a great deal that Canada can contribute in Afghanistan - while still withdrawing its troops."
.................
"In the circumstances, Canadian combat troops are less needed than they might have been before. And thank goodness for that. They've suffered the highest casualty rate, per soldier, of all the allied troops in Afghanistan. Our men and women are tired and their equipment is wearing out."
..............
"That said, and consistent with the concept of "smart power," we can and should offer to contribute in other ways. Our diplomats could help negotiate with tribal and insurgent leaders in Afghanistan, as well as with regional actors such as Iran, India and Pakistan. The Canadian International Development Agency could provide more reconstruction assistance. The RCMP could do more to assist with the training of the Afghan police."
"Gen. MacKenzie makes the same point: "There is a crying need for additional instructors for the understaffed NATO teams training the expanding Afghan National Army. The international police currently training the problematic Afghan National Police are short some 3,000 instructors!"
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Sat, 2009-02-28 00:57
#18
Webgear, do you refuse to acknowledge that "we" are losing the war?
No, I do not agree. I believe at this time the war is at a stalemate. I would like to state that we have screwed up at times and continue to screw up.
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Sat, 2009-02-28 01:03
#19
[url=http://www.ceasefire.ca/?p=840][color=mediumblue][u]Here's an actual working link to that crap article by Staples and Byers.[/u][/color][/url]
I agree with Byers and Malalai Joya, that Afghans need aid and assistance, and also to stop being vicious toadies to uncle Sam and the empire's agenda for propping up a criminal narco regime in Kabul.
So you agree with Byers that CIDA should provide more reconstruction, the RCMP should do more to assist with the training of the Afghan police, and we should provide instructors to help train the Afghan National Army?
[b]How is that not propping up the criminal narco regime in Kabul?[/b]
Byers and the NDP are obligated to talk about solutions and progress. Theyre politicians afterall. Afghanistan is a failed nation state due to US intervention in that country since 1979. Afghanistan couldnt be more the US-managed shithole that it is.
Karzai's main opposition in 2009 elections will be a united front of warlords sitting in parliament today. Speaking for the front last year, Sangcharaki said that the front is calling for an international meeting hosted by the UN in order to bring about an end to ongoing civil war in Afghanistan. They also want proportional democracy/elections for Afghanistan. Most international envoys to Afghanistan agree with this, except for one nation, the USA.
And you agree with Byers that the Harpocons ought to buy into Hillary Clinton's so-called "smart power diplomacy" and offer to contribute to her efforts?[b]How is that not being vicious toadies to Uncle Sam?[/b]
It'll be difficult to toady if we're pulling troops out of Afghanistan as the NDP has so consistently advocated be done.
More easily is toadying done when Liberals, Tories, or any combination of the two are in power or propping up one another in Ottawa as is the case today. Got to clean out the halls of power in Ottawa if you really do desire a change on the vicious toadying to the USSA as Canadian foreign policy end of things
Sat, 2009-02-28 01:07
#20
M. Spector
Byers is an imperialist stooge, and your covering for him is shameful.
Sat, 2009-02-28 01:17
#21
If you love and appreciate what's been happening in Afghanistan for the last 20 years and want to see Afghanistan either continue to be a US military-colonial outpost, or perhaps re-created as a Taliban state controlled by Pakistan's ISI and American CIA, then make good and sure to bad mouth the fourth political party in Ottawa which should be third and with about 15 more seats in the House than now, even with "strategic voting" as the underlying dynamic to our obsolete electoral system. I always knew you were a Yanqui plant anyway. "wink"
Sat, 2009-02-28 01:39
#22
M. Spector
I wonder how eager you'd have been to defend this imperialist toady if he had gone with his first choice and [url=http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=78044b7e-8521-404... as a candidate for the Liberals[/u][/color][/url]?
Sat, 2009-02-28 01:57
#23
I am guilty. I want the NDP to win more seats and to continue being the effective opposition in Ottawa.
All of this splitting hairs and suggesting that the rules of democracy will somehow be violated in Afghanistan if the NDP doesnt reduce themselves to sitting in a corner and holding their breaths on every issue regarding Afghanistan is silly beyond recognition. Afghanistan is one ongoing crime against humanity. There is no democracy and no hope in that country whatsoever. Kids and women in that failed nation state are hungry, illiterate, and being raped and murdered with impunity by old bastards with guns or currying political influence, or just passing through from mercenary bases in Pakistan. Afghanistan is as lawless today as it was when militia groups were marauding into Afghanistan years ago.
Get these imperialist stooges out of Ottawa ASAP is my frame of mind. We have to break with this 14 decades in a row tradition worth of old line party rule in Ottawa. You may think it great fun to attack the fourth political party calling for troop withdrawal from the stan and proportional elections here, but I cant see how it helps the situation. I put time in regularly for the NDP, a party fighting for change in this Northern Puerto Rico. The NDP needs help not votes chasing off to the fucking Liberal Party, that band of cackling jackals and Bay Street props on the right.
Sat, 2009-02-28 20:51
#24
Afghan villager sentenced to death for 'wrong information' which caused bombing tragedy
"Mohammad Nader was sentenced to death in a primary court in the western city of Herat.
"You, Mohammad Nader, are sentenced to capital punishment for spying for foreign forces and giving wrong information that caused the death of civilians," judge Qazi Mukaram told him.
Nader, in his late 30s, denied the charges. "My information was accurate and I did it for the well-being and security of my village," he said. He can appeal the sentence.
No detail was available about how or why Nader gave the information which caused the tragedy."
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Sat, 2009-02-28 21:01
#25
M. Spector
[url=http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/368F47A5A26C15E887257...'s an actual working link to that article.[/u][/color][/url]
Sat, 2009-02-28 21:13
#26
Thank you posting the correct link M.Spector, I am not sure why or links are not working the last few days.
______________________________________________________________________________________________ We are like cloaks, one thinks of us only when it rains.
Sat, 2009-02-28 21:13
#27
Mohammad Nader was sentenced to death in a primary court in the western city of Herat
Collabortate with the Crusaders, you ask for it.
Sat, 2009-02-28 21:51
#28
M. Spector
I don't think the court was concerned that he was collaborating with NATO - just that he gave them the wrong info.
Sun, 2009-03-01 14:28
#29
M. Spector
Even after more than seven years of war to install and prop up a compliant regime in Afghanistan, NATO admits that it would be impossible to hold free and fair elections this April.
The Afghanistan constitution requires a presidential election to be held 30 to 60 days before President Karzai's five-year term expires on May 21, 2009. Karzai wants to follow the Constitution. He also wants to run for re-election.
[b]Screw the Constitution, say NATO leaders.[/b] In spite of our years of killing and destroying the country in order to bring democracy to it, the country just isn't ready for free and fair elections just now. (Funny, that's not what they were saying back in 2004 when Karzai was first elected - I guess the country was a lot more stable back then.) This is a situation that Webgear calls a "stalemate"!
[b]Screw the Constitution, says Afghanistan's "Independent Election Commission",[/b] which ruled in January that because of security and logistical concerns, the national elections should wait until August.
What exactly is supposed to happen between April and August to bring stability and freedom to Afghanistan hasn't been explained.
But the ease with which the NATO invaders propose to shove aside the constitution - even the one that was imposed by them on Afghanistan - is very telling about their degree of dedication to the rule of law.
Reference: [url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/03/20093113256239239.html][c... Jazeera[/u][/color][/url]
Sun, 2009-03-01 15:18
#30
If the WSJ loves us, Canada has to be in serious trouble.
A Resolute Ally in the War on Terror Canadians are with us in Afghanistan. We should be with them on free trade.