The Afghan people will win - part 17

[VANCOUVER - Apr. 1, 2010] - An Angus Reid Public Opinion poll-the first conducted since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Canada to reconsider its decision to end its military commitment in Afghanistan in 2011-finds that a large majority of Canadians reject the possibility of changes to the announced departure date for combat troops.

In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,006 Canadians, 79 per cent of respondents oppose Canadian troops taking part in a combat mission after the current mandate ends in 2011. Only 16 per cent of Canadians would consent to such an arrangement.

Most Canadians, however, would like the country to remain engaged in Afghanistan. More than half of respondents (54%) would support Canadian troops training the Afghan military after 2011.

In addition, almost two thirds of respondents (64%) would agree with Canadian soldiers participating in activities related to development and governance work.

 

Canadians Reject Extending Combat Mission in Afghanistan Beyond 2011:

Respondents would welcome other arrangements to support Afghanistan, such as work related to training and development.

As far as I can tell and sense, all troops will be pulled out as of 2011 with the exception of those at the embassy. All combat missions will cease in by next spring, and then the long process of removing equipment and supplies.The CDS has been very clear about this in the press.

I believe we will be part of a major UN mission late 2011 or early 2012.

However politicans and political groups change thier mind all the time, we may be there longer than next year.\

If we do stay, it will a new roto.

[url=http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18458]Canada's Role in Afghanistan: What Would Iggy Do on Afghanistan?[/url] What would the Liberals do?  by Thomas Walkom

 Some senior NDP and Liberal supporters have been pushing for a Congo mission.  I think that is where the troops are going in 2012.

Jerome Starkey wrote:

US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims' bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Times. Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother were shot on February 12 when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village, outside Gardez in eastern Afghanistan. The precise composition of the force has never been made public.

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/04/05/us-special-forces-tried-to-co...

Jason Ditz wrote:

But all of this still leaves an enormous loose string to tie up. If there was no "gruesome discovery" as claimed, then the US special forces responsible for the raid not only killed those pregnant women, but bound and gagged their corpses to try to cover it up (which is what the family claimed the day after it happened, to the dismissal of everyone).

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/04/nato-admits-killing-civilians-in-febr...

DND Ordered Military Police to Withold Information on Detainees

http://www.thehilltimes.ca/page/view/afghan-04-05-2010

"CF headquarters ordered Military Police in Kandahar to whithold information about detainees from the allied International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, an email among the 2,600 documents the government tabled in Parliament says...The government has refused to disclose publicly since the controversy begain how many detainees Canadian soldiers transferred to Afghan authorities, and the email indicates the policy of secrecy over the transfers began soon after the Canadian troops engaged with Taliban in 2006 late summer battles..'

The Case for the Impeachment of President Obama

http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/504

"Let me state it simply: President Barack Obama, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Treasury Secretary Geithner, should be impeached for war crimes against the Constitution.."

Third Video Released of U.S. Prisoner of War Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl

Bondage, Beatings and a Few Questions from the Governor

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/bondage-beatings-and-a-few-...

A Detainee tells his story...

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Gulbuddin Hekmatyr, the Messiah of Darkness

http://www.zcommunications.org/gulbuddin-hekmatyar-the-messiah-of-darkne...

"One of the warlords who may soon star in the new US efforts to rebrand fundamentalists as potential government partners is Gulbudin Hekmatyar, a brutal Afghan insurgent commander responsible for dozens of deadly attacks on coalition troops.."

Yes, Hekmatyar was a superstar of terrorism for the CIA and Saudis during anticommunist jihad of the eighties and nineties. They shovelled half a billion dollars to him every year for a number of years. And he says 9/11 hijackers were all trained in terror on US and European soil. GH says the CIA and ISI were very familiar with all of the 9/11 perps in the years leading up to 9/11/01.

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/11/afghanistan-canadian.html]Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan[/url]

Quote:

A Canadian soldier [Pvt. Tyler William Todd] died in Afghanistan after stepping on an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol Sunday morning, just southwest of Kandahar city. [...]

The Canadian battle group supported an Afghan National Army sweep of the area further south of Belanday a few weeks ago and [b]had been assured by villagers that the Taliban had fled[/b].

See? There's a silver lining. Clearly, there are grounds for a lawsuit against the villagers.

Quote:

[Brig.-Gen. Daniel] Menard described him as someone who was dedicated and likeable with a good sense of humour.

"Tyler was a practical joker. He would often hide rocks and candies in the other soldiers' beds," the general said.

Apparently he wasn't alone.

 

Kady O'Malley's liveblogging from yesterday's Afgan Parliamentary Cttee meeting. New allegations from former DND translator Malgarai Ahmadshah including: 

• teenage boy shot in head resulting in coverup and sweep of 10 Afghan males from age of 10 to 90 who were all turned over to Afghan NDS
• 90 year old man shackled and thrown to the ground before being turned over by Cdn troops to Afghans
• Canada "outsourced" torture to NDS
• explosives test is a joke because the ground is saturated with explosives
• translator's family info was leaked by Cdn military to the Taliban resulting in threats
• everyone dealing with detainee transfers knew about torture
• ad nauseum

Frmrsldr wrote:

Interesting survey just polled in Kandahar province:

http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2010/04/18/94-percent-of-kandaharis-w...

Ninety-one percent of the respondents supported the convening of a "Loya Jirga," or "grand assembly" of leaders as a way of ending the conflict, with 54 percent "strongly" supporting it, and 37 percent "somewhat" supporting it. That figure appears to reflect support for President Karzai’s proposal for a "peace Jirga" in which the Taliban would be invited to participate.

Loya Jirga? What the heck's that? And, do our stooges know about this? Should there be someone to mediate other than the Saudis and Pakistani ISI/CIA?

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Canada Not Aiming to Win, Just Not Lose

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Opinion/1177960.html

"One Canadian general recently disclosed to me in confidence that this was because NATO has been approaching this fight with the intent of not losing rather than attempting to actually defeat the insurgency. If that is the case, someone needs to explain this premise to all the families and friends of our far too many casualties to date: Canada's sons and daughters died to prolong a war that the US and NATO were not truly committed to winning."

 

The day we lost the Afghan war was the day George W. Bush woke up in the morning and said, "Let's have a war in Afghanistan."

It takes a special kind of genius to go to war against Afghanistan. A country where 100,000 Russian troops and 10 years in the making failed to achieve victory. A country where after 100 years, the British were defeated. A country where everyone who invaded and occupied it failed and eventually left. Its title of "Graveyard of Empires" is well deserved.

We were never in it to win it.

Much has been made of Afghan girls and the lack of opportunities for them either under the Taliban or the present government. However, life for many of the boys isn't so hot either.

 

In The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan, airing Tuesday, April 20, 2010, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi (Behind Taliban Lines) returns to his native land to expose an ancient practice that has been brought back by powerful warlords, former military commanders and wealthy businessmen. Known as “bacha bazi” (literal translation: “boy play”), this illegal practice exploits street orphans and poor boys, some as young as 11, whose parents are paid to give over their sons to their new “masters.” The men dress the boys in women’s clothes and train them to sing and dance for the entertainment of themselves and their friends. According to experts, the dancing boys are used sexually by these powerful men.

NoDifferencePartyPooper wrote:

Why the Kandahar Offensive Could Backfire

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/army-researchers-why-the-kandaha...

A reader comment"

Posted by: jacktoads | 04/18/10 | 12:48 am |

just certify the opioides for big pharma and make sure the peasents get paid off the top,wtf,to easy,really yer all about loitering,so tye yer self up then,really probably using whack and smack to “become a drug/war lord made in acme america god dam the pusher man

 

I think those are Steppenwolf song lyrics. Dam the pusher man. I think some people, not "Jack Toads" though apparently, are under the impression that Afghan drug lords and fundamentalists were an indigenous occurrence created by a brutal Soviet colonization effort during the 1980s. And this is untrue. Opportunists like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Abdul Razul Sayyaf were chosen by the CIA and Pakistani ISI to setup as drug barons because they had no popular support base in Afghanistan. And because they were not popular, the CIA and ISI knew they could control them. But I'd like to bet that that commentator "Jack Toads" is aware of that, too. ha ha

 

The Anatomy of America's [and its compliant appendage Canada's] Defeat in Afghanistan

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?223418

"lack of knowledge of the Pashtun culture is another important factor ensuring US defeat in Afghanistan - there are two sources wherein this lack contributes to the permanence of hostility of Pashtuns toward the US and allies. The first issue is the tribal structure and the cohesion within the tribes in matters of self defense.

When a member of a tribe or subtribe is killed, the killer is not only the enemy of the family whose member he has killed, but rather he has gained the enmity of the tribe whose member he has murdered. Thus, the US [and Canadian] forces have turned tribes, sub-tribes and villages against them by slaughtering their members in the hundreds and thousands.

The second source is a tenet of the Pashtunwali - the Pashtun code of honour. This tenet is that of revenge, which goes hand in hand with tribal cohesion. A Pashtun father, brother, son and tribesmen have to avenge the death of their relative. There is an old saying that after a Pashtun took his revenge after a 100 years, he said, 'I think I rushed it a bit'..."

US Military Suffers Major Defeat in Karengal Valley

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2/642019287?page=NewsArticle&id=13935&new...

"The US military has retreated from a base in the remote Karengal Valley after spending over 4 years trying to hold the ground. The US forces even negotiated the terms of their defeat, paying the resistance fighters and leaving them the base fully intact with buildings, fuel, generators and military equipment in order to be allowed a peaceful retreat out of the valley.."

Dancing Boys of Afghanistan (and vid)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/dancing-boys-of-afghanistan_n_5...

"Bacha Bazi Documentary exposes horrific sexual abuse of young Afghan boys.."

This is how some of the Afghan elite Canada supports amuse themselves

Jason Ditz wrote:

NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that no exit strategy could involve a "run for the exits," and there seems to be no danger of that, as the alliance's plan seems to cement NATO's presence as an occupying power over much of Afghanistan for untold decades to come.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/23/afghan-exit-strategy-wont-involve-rem...

Who are the afghan people exactly?

No Friendly Wavs Only Hatred

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/22/afghanistan-british-troops-h...

"In Sangin, says a farmer, 'people are sick of night raids and being treated badly by the foreigners.."

Assume the same for Canada

I guess this belongs here: Proud to be Afghan

[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269463/Afghanistan-Po... this link instead.[/url]

Pentagon Report: Still Not Enough Troops in Afghanistan.

Jason Ditz wrote:

But in what is rapidly becoming the ultimate example of a mission that grows to exceed whatever resources it is given, the Pentagon's latest report on Afghanistan is warning that they still don't have enough troops to cover even half of the "key districts" in the nation, let alone the rest of the country.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/29/pentagon-report-still-not-enough-troo...

Another killing of an innocent Afghan civilian in his home:

Jason Ditz wrote:

But this time we do know the victim. Amanullah, a 30 year old auto mechanic and father of five, who made a panicked phone call to his distant relative, Afghan MP Safiya Sidiqi, that the family compound was being raided by what he assumed was a "gang of thieves."

He had no reason to think anything different. After all, who figures that the US would launch a night raid against the family home of a member of parliament? Shot six times by the raiding US troops, including in the face and heart, Amanullah was slain on the spot.

In the raid, the US troops handcuffed everyone in the compound and took fingerprints, they claimed they were looking for a "Taliban facilitator." They never did find him.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/29/afghan-mechanic-father-of-five-killed...

Is Karzai heading for the end game?

Shahid R. Siddiqi wrote:

Leaders who place themselves in the service of imperialist masters are in fact weaklings, despite their trappings of power. They can break free or follow an independent course only at the peril of their lives. Refusal to fall in line may lead to an accident or a military putsch. Afghanistan has been witness to many such actions.

Karzai cannot survive without U.S. support and is in no position to threaten, confront or defy it. Yet if he does, one doesn't have to be a Nostradamus to predict his fall.

A sound piece of advice for Karzai was offered by Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com: "Get out of town fast, because "the richest man on the planet" wouldn't do well at Bagram".

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/04/29/is-karzai-heading-for-the...

NATO forces face four more years of combat in Afghanistan:

Richard Norton-Taylor wrote:

British and other Nato troops could be expected to be engaged in combat roles for "another three or four years", he [Mark Sedwill, a former UK ambassador to Afghanistan] said. Thereafter, they could be expected to remain in Afghanistan, training and mentoring local forces, for a further 10 to 15 years ... But it was important, he added, not to expect an end of violence to be a precondition for a handover. The questions were what was an acceptable level of violence in Afghanistan and, as important, the degree to which Afghans felt that their security and institutions of government were improving.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/afghanistan-combat-nato-offi...

When the war started, it was total victory, defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and create a democratic government and society in Afghanistan. Later, it was pacify the country and create a democratic government and society.

Now, NATO says there is at least going to be four more years of war after which we will leave with a 'reasonable' level of violence, a reasonable level of security, a reasonable or 'acceptable' level of corruption and a 'reasonably' democratic and accountable government - to be determined by 'Afghan' standards, not 'international' standards.

My, how the U.S./NATO/ISAF bar for standards and hoped for objectives has fallen concerning Afghanistan. How many more years and how much lower will these standards fall, one wonders?