Thought I'd start a new theme for a while - "The Afghan people's enemies are losing."
Afghan puppets & their masters are going down
Sat, 2010-09-04 23:38
#1
Afghan puppets & their masters are going down
Sat, 2010-09-04 23:39
#2
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/09/04/kabul-bank-run.html]Afghans pull savings from Kabul bank[/url]
Crowds gathered at Kabul Bank branches around the capital to withdraw U.S. dollar and Afghan currency savings, with customers saying they had lost faith in the bank's solvency following a change in leadership and reports that tens of millions of dollars had been lent to political elites for risky real estate investments.
"Kabul Bank has lost the trust of the people. Even the chairman resigned so all the people are concerned," said Mohammad Nawaz, head of an Afghan aid group who had tried for three hours to withdraw the $15,000 US in his account.
The bank run, which began earlier in the week, could have wide-ranging political repercussions since it handles the pay for Afghan public servants, soldiers and police.
Sun, 2010-09-05 01:08
#3
With four more months to go:
[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glSIw4PTpYIBlCoBRjXsA.... deaths in Afghanistan hit record in 2010[/url]
The toll of US soldiers killed in the Afghan war this year is the highest since the conflict began, an AFP count found, as NATO said Wednesday it had killed two insurgents for every soldier lost last month.A total of 323 US soldiers have been killed in the Afghan war 2010, compared with 317 for all of 2009, according to AFP figures based on the independent icasualties.org website.
Foreign forces suffered a grim spike in deaths last month as the Taliban insurgency intensified, with NATO confirming Wednesday that a sixth US soldier had been killed on one of the bloodiest days this year.
At 490, the overall death toll for foreign troops for the first eight months of the year is rapidly closing in on the 2009 figure, which at 521 was a record since the start of the war in late 2001.
Sun, 2010-09-05 07:37
#4
Good title U
Perhaps one day it will be our own puppets and masters going down...
Tue, 2010-09-07 15:39
#5
Twenty Years After Soviet Humilitation Russia Seeks a Return to Afghanistan
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/twenty-years-after-soviet-h...
"Russia is positioning itself for active reinvolvement in Afghanistan.."
Thu, 2010-09-09 09:27
#6
The American Occupation of Afghanistan and the Birth of a National Liberation Movement
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20946
"...the way the US carried out its occupation of Afghanistan and its campaign against the Taliban, transformed what was a low intensity guerrilla campaign as of 1/2002 into a full-fledged war of national liberation by 2006.."
Fri, 2010-09-10 10:18
#7
IEA: Message of Felicitation of the Esteemed Amir-ul-Momineen, [Mullah Omar] on the Eve of Eid-Ul-Fitre
http://www.pashtunforums.com/religion-15/message-felicitation-esteemed-a...
"...our message for those countries which still want to continue their military occupation of Afghanistan, merely on the irrational pretexts of America, is that you should consider withdrawal of your forces from Afghanistan at your earliest."
Sun, 2010-09-12 11:40
#8
Afpak And the New Great Game - by Pepe Escobar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LI09Df01.html
"As much as Washington may entertain the illusion that it's in command, it's actually Hamid Karzai, the wily Afghan president, who is playing an attacking game in this latest installment of the New Great Game in Eurasia. And as usual, there's never a mention anywhere of the key Pipelinestan game..."
Mon, 2010-09-13 04:18
#9
Coalition Forces To Attack Taliban this Fall
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/09/11/lessard-afghanistan-taliban.html
"Coalition forces in Afghanistan will go on the offensive this fall, says Lt. Gen. Marc Lessard, the commander of Canadian troops overseas...up to 32,000 Afghan and coalition soldiers will try to clear 500 to 800 insurgents from around Kandahar city before December..."
32,000 vs 5-800? Well I guess it's obvious who the better fighters are...
Tue, 2010-09-14 07:23
#10
Special Forces Actions in Afghanistan Probed
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/09/13/detainee-investigation.html
"Canada's Defence Department quietly began a major inquiry into the Afghanistan operations of the military's elite special forces unit two years ago, CBC news has learned. The investigation began in 2008 after a member of the highly secretive task force known as Joint Task Force 2 or JTF2, raised serious allegations against another member of the force and the force investigated, the military has confirmed...
During the 3 year period at the centre of the Sand Trap investigations, 2005 to 2008, the JTF2 unit was attached to an American Special Forces command based in Kandahar. JTF2 took its tactical direction from the Americans.."
Something very, very bad is being covered up here, hence the lack of cohones of opposition pols to pursue its disclosure
Sat, 2010-09-18 09:44
#11
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/twenty-years-after-soviet-h..."Russia is positioning itself for active reinvolvement in Afghanistan.."
Why not? Lots of peaceful precedent.
It's amazing how the mainstream media thinks Afghan history began in 1978.
Afghanistan had 15 parliaments before the Taliban takeover, starting in 1923.
The Afghan government was the only government to oppose the entry of Pakistan into the United Nations. On 21 June 1947, Khudai Khidmatgar (Red Shirt) leaders had met at Bannu and believed that a referendum on partition was inevitable. They declared that Pakhtuns did not accept India or Pakistan and announced a boycott of the referendum.
Just over 50% of the inhabitants of the North West Frontier Province (recently renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) voted for joining Pakistan, despite the boycott. Afghanistan was deeply concerned over the question of the right to self-determination of the Pakhtuns.
The Indian government was on the Afghans side. This led the American government to consider Afghanistan's request for arms as a prelude to a new Kashmir situation in the Area. Faced with the negative attitude of President Truman, Afghan Prime Minister Shah Mahmud made a very significant remark, which was widely commented upon by the press. To a journalist, who had inquired whether the Afghan government would turn to the USSR for arms, he replied: "Muslims are forbidden to eat pork, except when a Muslim is dying of hunger!". Although, it was at that stage only a bluff, but later on Afghanistan had no alternative but to turn to Moscow.
The seventh Afghan Parliament (1949-1951), which has become known as the "Liberal Parliament", gave voice to criticism of the government and traditional institutions, allowed opposition political groups to come to life, and enacted some liberal reforms, including laws providing for a free press. In June 1949 the Afghan Parliament formally cancelled all treaties which former Afghan governments have signed with the British, including the Durand Treaty which established the boundary between British India and Afghanistan. It thus proclaimed that the Afghan government does not recognize the Durand Line as a legal boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In July 1949, the Afghan Parliament declared that "it does not recognize the imaginary Durand or any similar Line."
In 1952 a bill to nationalize oil is passed by the seventh Parliament.
After the 1952 election, King Zahir at the opening of the new National Assembly deplores the fact that relations with Pakistan have not improved. "We have," he says, "the most friendly feelings for Pakistan, but we cannot forget the cause of Pakhtunistan."
In 1953 the prime minister since 1946 resigns and is succeeded by Lieut. Gen. Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan, the king's cousin and brother-in-law. Daud was the first of the young, Western-educated generation of the royal family to wield power in Kabul.
In 1954 the construction of a 100-km pipeline from Termez (Uzbek S.S.R.) to Mazar-i-Sharif is started by Soviet technicians.
In 1955 after demonstrations in Kabul, Kandahar, and Jalalabad during which Pakistani missions are wrecked and looted and Pakistani flags are pulled down, the government of Pakistan is compelled to close its diplomatic and consular missions and withdraw their staffs. A "general mobilization" of Afghan armed forces is ordered in Kabul at the beginning of May. The Afghan government declares that his country will seek Soviet or Czechoslovak arms if the West fails to supply them. The U.S.S.R. grants to Afghanistan a 30-year credit of $100,000,000 at an annual rate of interest of 2%. According to Pakistani sources, $40,000,000 of the Soviet credits is earmarked for arms from the U.S.S.R. and Czechoslovakia and $60,000,000 for building airports and roads.
In 1960 prime minister Daud sent troops across the border into Bajaur in an unsuccessful attempt to press the Pashtunistan issue, but Afghan military forces were routed by the Pakistan military. Nikita Khrushchev, the prime minister of the U.S.S.R., visits Kabul. In a joint statement Khrushchev and Mohammad Daud, the Afghan prime minister, declare that "the application of the principle of self-determination" is the reasonable way to solve the problems of Pashtunistan.
In 1961 due to the controversy over the Afghan demand for self-determination for about 7,000,000 members of border tribes, the Pakistan government closes Afghan consulates and trade missions in its territory. Afghanistan seals its side of the border and breaks relations. Traffic between the two countries came to a halt, just as two of Afghanistan's major export crops, grapes and pomegranates, were ready to be shipped to India. In a valuable public relations gesture, the Soviet Union offered to buy the crops and airlift them from Afghanistan. The consequences are far-reaching, as Afghanistan then demands that all trade, including U.S. economic aid, be channeled through Soviet access routes.
In 1962 a hydroelectric plant, built with Soviet assistance, is opened in northern Afghanistan.
In the 1965 election for the 12th parliament four MPs were elected from the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Under the new 1964 constitution women can vote and run; four women won seats; one joins the cabinet of the new social democratic prime minister. However, the 1969 election is a conservative victory.
In 1973 Mohammed Daud Khan, who had first become prime minister in 1953, staged a coup d'état and established a one-party state. Khan Abdul Wali Khan, who founded his own faction of the National Awami Party, is remembered for having eloquently replied to a Pakistani critic of the Pakhtunistan cause, who asked him if he considered himself a Pakistani Muslim first or a Pakhtun, by stating that: "I have been a Pakhtun for six thousand years, a Muslim for thirteen hundred years, and a Pakistani for twenty-five." This has become an often repeated sentence by the remaining Pakhtun nationalists in Pakistan. In 1975 Pakistan banned the National Awami Party.
In 1978 a Soviet-linked military coup ousted Daud. The military had been relying on the Soviet Union for 23 years.
Sat, 2010-09-18 10:24
#12
That was a very good history lesson, Wilf. Thanks.
And I think the Russians may be pursuing something more than soft power as Mary Dejevsky reveals in The Independent news article. They now have NATO parked on their doorsteps all around the former Soviet Union. US colder war hawks Joe Biden et al have been negotiating for "reconfigured" missile defense installations in Czech Rep. and Poland. Perhaps concessions to the US and NATO on Afghanistan also have to do with stalling the west's surrounding of Russia militarily.
Sat, 2010-09-18 16:57
#13
N.Beltov
Wilf, you missed one interesting initial fact about Afghanistan. It was the first country in the world to recognize the Russian Revolution and the new Soviet regime that was established after October 1917.
Sat, 2010-09-18 16:58
#14
Are any Afghan people who vote in the elections,foolish for doing so after the Taliban's warning or do they deserve respect for doing it despite the risk?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11349179
Sat, 2010-09-18 17:57
#15
Cueball
Are any Afghan people who vote in the elections,foolish for doing so after the Taliban's warning or do they deserve respect for doing it despite the risk?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11349179
Number of eligible voters: about 10.5 million Number of seats: 249 Total number of candidates: 2,514, including 406 women Total number of polling centres: 6,835 Polling centres closed because of security concerns: 1,019 Estimated cost: $150m (£95.5m), paid by international partners
Respect for doing what? Buying bucketloads of fake ballots for the fake election in the fake democracy?
Sat, 2010-09-18 19:55
#16
Yeah - the equivalent of $15 bucks a pop apparently in the back country. A buck a ballot in Kandahar . Probably delighted to cash this useless nazi nonsense in too. Hell, I'd take $15 for mine here in a heartbeat but nobody's buying..
Afghan Votes Cheap and Often in Bulk
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/world/asia/18vote.html?_r=no18emc=etal
"...Nontheless, prices are low. In northern Kunduz Province, Afghan voters cost $15 dollars each; in eastern Ghazni Province, a vote can be bought for $18. In Kandahar they sell their rights for as little as $1 a ballot. More commonly, the price seems to hover in the $5 to $6 range.."
Sun, 2010-09-19 15:10
#17
US Military in Afghanistan Uncovers Sadistic Death Squad in Ranks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8011815/US-mi...
"In at least one attack, a soldier threw a grenade to pretend they were being ambushed as a pretext to then shoot dead an innocent villager. The soldiers also dismembered and photographed bodies and kept bones and skulls as trophies in some of the most grisly accusations against US troops since the invasion in 2001.."
These ghouls were operating in Kandahar during the same time period that Canada's JTF2 was operating there. JTF2 is currently under a secret investigation concerning complaints made by a member re: 'improper killing'.
Sun, 2010-09-19 15:48
#18
Before 2001, the fight was between the Taliban and the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance). Karzai displaced the Northern Alliance, whose candidate last year was Abdullah Abdullah. So how is that playing out in this election?
Former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a key member of the Northern Alliance, which includes Karzai challenger Abdullah Abdullah, has made peace with Karzai. Though Abdullah was sharply critical of the peace jirga held in June, Rabbani agreed to chair it, taking the steam out of opposition to the event.In the week preceding the election, another Northern Alliance member, the current speaker of the lower house of parliament, Younus Qanooni, was forced to deny he had struck a deal with Karzai in return for continuing in the post. Qanooni is a sharp political operator whose skills have honed parliament's oppositional tactics.
Several key players may be considering their political options since no one is quite sure what the elections will throw up. Insecurity, fraud, and doubts over Afghan voters' eagerness and ability to exercise their right to vote, all present a range of unpredictables.
". . . the allegiances in parliament, which have shifted continually throughout the last five years, increasingly in the run-up to both presidential and parliamentary elections, will continue to do so post-2010. In the post-election period, once the stakes are lower, it is likely that the environment inside the Wolesi Jirga will stabilise somewhat. Nevertheless, there will likely remain a tendency toward non-committal alliances in which there are few linkages-other than ethnicity, perhaps-binding MPs to a particular group for any length of time. . . Elections should be promoted in Afghanistan: in the long term, they present the prospect of a stable political system in which change is always possible. But they need to be promoted carefully, with attention paid to solidifying the rules of the game, lessening executive control, increasing security and enforcing punitive measures for those who refuse to comply. At present, all indicators point in the opposite direction, with national and international actors at the highest levels unwilling to exert the pressure needed to achieve these goals. If nothing is done to change this trajectory, elections will continue to promote the instability they are fuelling now."
"Ninety percent of the Wolesi Jirga members who were elected in 2005 have been certified to seek re-election. One lawmaker has been disqualified, 15 are retiring and 10 died or were killed while in office. Yet the winners of the 2005 polls included 40 commanders still associated with armed groups, 24 who belong to criminal gangs, 17 drug traffickers and 19 who face serious allegations of war crimes and human rights violations . . . A second, bleaker analysis by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission cited in the report found that more than 60 percent of those elected in Kabul had "links to armed groups." . . . Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf is among a raft of former guerrilla chieftains and commanders implicated in war crimes who are likely to win re-election Saturday to the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga. "A majority of the seats in parliament will belong to photocopies of Sayyaf," asserted Malalai Joya. Her fierce denunciations of Karzai and "warlords and drug lords" in parliament prompted her expulsion from her Farah province seat in 2007 in what many experts say was an unconstitutional action by the lower house. The chamber also lifted her official passport and banned her from talking to the media, which she refused to heed. Joya, who's also an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, contended that many lawmakers' police bodyguards are members of personal militias, and she called the candidate vetting process "just symbolic."
Sun, 2010-09-19 16:35
#19
Another Rigged Election in Afghanistan
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/afgh-s18.shtml
"Today's elections in Afghanistan for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament, are a travesty of democracy. The poll further discredits the puppet regime of President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected last year on the basis of widespread fraud..."
Mon, 2010-09-20 10:11
#20
Post Combat Afghan Ride High on Agenda
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Post+combat+Afghan+role+high+agenda/35...
"The minority Conservative government's willingness to give opposition MPs a say in the civilian reconstruction mission after the withdrawal of Canada's 2,800 troops next year appears to hinge in part on whether their outcry over treatment of Afghan detainees has been defused..."
Watch for dirty deals to be made...
Thu, 2010-09-23 08:30
#21
NATO to Press Canada for Post 2011 Afghan Training
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/NATO+press+Canada+post+2011+Afghan+tra...
"NATO's ambassador to Afghanistan is flying 11,000 kilometres to Ottawa late next week to try to convince the Harper government the alliance badly needs military instructors to train Afghan security forces and that Canada is ideally suited to provide the staff after its combat missions in Kandahar ends July 1, 2011.."
NO! OUT OF AFGHANISTAN! OUT OF NATO!
Fri, 2010-09-24 20:11
#22
[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21166]Why America Cannot Win in Afghanistan[/url] by (retired) General Hamid Gul of Pakistan
It's a very good interview imo. Gul is very critical of long time US cold warriors Cheney and Rumsfeld, both embedded in US Government or Washington political scene in general since the mid 1970's. These people are crazy. Crazier than even crazy George II.
Sun, 2010-09-26 13:34
#23
Afghanistan: Wealth, Corruption and Criminality Amidst Mass Poverty
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21174
"Afghanistan might be characterized as having a paucity of toilets and an excess of corruption. These two aspects capture the post-Taliban essence of the country.
'Defense expert Amy Belasco estimates total US expenditure ( in Afghanistan) by 2011 to be $445 BIllion. To put that into perspective, that's more than 3 times what all the OECD nations together spent on development aid around the globe in 2009...'
Sun, 2010-09-26 14:15
#24
I think Afghanistan and Iraq have been one large and ongoing money laundering operation for murdering crooks in "the party" masquerading as two separate political entities bought and paid-for by the billionaire oligarchy. The revolution is long overdue.
Sun, 2010-09-26 16:06
#25
Aafia Siddiqui Sentenced: A Grievous Miscarriage of Justice by Stephen Lendman
http://mostlywater.org/aafia_siddiqui_sentenced_grievous_miscarriage_jus...
"On September 23 in federal court, US District Court Judge Richard Berman sentenced political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui to EIGHTY SIX YEARS IN PRISON. Outrage most accurately expresses this gross miscarriage of justice.."
Sun, 2010-09-26 20:31
#26
Debacle in Afghanistan: British Troops Withdraw from Sangin
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/pers-s24.shtml
"...But nothing can gloss over the fact that Briain has suffered a major defeat...Britain's armed forces were driven out as occupiers by a determined popular insurgency..The withdrawal underscores the criminal destruction of life as a result of this dirty, imperialist war.."
Mon, 2010-09-27 02:51
#27
Army Censors Photos of Afghan Corpses in 'Kill-For-Sport' Trial
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/army-censors-photos-kill-for-sport-tr...
"Benjamin K Grimes, a senior counsel for the defense was 'inadvertently' sent images last week that show, among other things ' three dead Afghans with three different soldiers posing, holding up the decedent's head.."
Commandos Complaint Sparked New Afghan Detainee Probes
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/commandos-complaint-sparked...
"The investigations have probed the alleged improper killing of Afghans, sources say...It could stem from a soldier's disquiet with how joint operations with the US were conducted.."
Mon, 2010-09-27 20:44
#28
The American Way: Spreading Democracy to Afghanistan, One Journalist's Arrest at a Time
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/222
"US-led forces in Afghanistan sure did a bang-up job this week of promoting the concept of Western 'democracy'. The ISAF and the puppet intelligence agency of the Afghan goernment, between them, arrested and held 3 journalists..."
US Slaughter Intensifies in Afghanistan
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/afgh-s27.shtml
"The US military claimed responsibility for killing scores of insurgents over the weekend as it unleashed its long-awaited offensive against Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the NATO umbrella organization for the US-led occupation reported the largest body count in two eastern regions of the country...
The New York Times also quoted a Taliban spokeman as saying there was no activity on the part of its fighters in the area and that all of those killed had been civilians.."
Tue, 2010-09-28 16:58
#29
NATO Expands Afghan War Into Pakistan
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21228
"Not satisfied with the Vietnam that Afghanistan has become, NATO has now launched a Cambodian incursion. One with implications several orders of magnitude greater than with the prototype , though, into a nation of almost 170 million people, a nation wielding nuclear weapons. Pakistan..."
Wed, 2010-10-06 08:37
#30
Killing each Taliban Soldier Costs $50 Million
http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article32304
"Killing 20 Taliban costs $1Billion. Killing all the Taliban would cost $1.7 Trillion..."
Canada out now!
Wed, 2010-10-06 16:43
#31
US and NATO to Wage 15 Year War in Afghanistan and Pakistan - by Rick Rozoff
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21328
"October 7 will mark the advent of the tenth year of the war waged by Washington in South Asia, the largest American combat operations in US history...
There are now at least 152, 000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, 120,000 under NATO command, and according to several recent statements by American and NATO officials most if not all of them will remain there beyond the 2011 withdrawal date announced by the American administration last year..
Not only are American and NATO military forces not leaving Afghanistan in the foreseeable future, they are expanding their nine year old war into Pakistan.."
Sat, 2010-10-09 11:09
#32
Our boys are over there to liberate women, right?
Capt. Nichola Goddard, who in 2006 became the first female Canadian combat death, wrote to her husband that women working at bases in Afghanistan were often victims of sexual harassment or assault, and that in one week there had been six rapes at her camp.
"OK. Now for all the stuff I can't say over the phone," she wrote in a personal letter to her husband of three years, Jason Beam, on Feb. 3, 2006, a little more than three months before she was killed in a firefight with the Taliban, west of Kandahar.
"There were six rapes in the camp last week, so we have to work out an escort at night."
Sat, 2010-10-09 14:49
#33
We're losing? The NATO boys will just have to consider not shipping weapons and money to the Taliban at some point.
They are squeezing a false flag operation from 9/11/01 for all its worth.
Will there be more false flags is the real question and not, When will they ever pull troops home from China and Russia and Iran's front doorsteps?
We already know they aren't over there to chase "al-Qaeda" around in circles, because it's an invisible enemy that doesn't exist.
It's a phony war. It's colonialism 101. The US Military and "North Atlantic" Treaty Org are there in Central Asia for the long term. The real war is a colder one. And everyone knows it.
As far as fascists are concerned, they are making history themselves. They are in control of history and of their own destiny as leaders of a world dictatorship run by a thousand year old Venetian-Dutch-Anglo-American financier oligarchy and western world banking cabal whose power is backed by NATO's military dictators.
Mon, 2010-10-11 13:10
#34
Afghanistan: NATO's First Ground War in Its 10 Year History
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/2543/
"When leaders from NATO's 28 member states and from scores of partnership allies gather in Lisbon next month as the Afghan-Pakistan war continues to escalate to evan more dangerous dimensions, the formal institutionalization of NATO as a western-initiated, US directed global organization will be unveiled to the world.."
Tue, 2010-10-12 03:16
#35
The Foreplay of an Afghan Settlement
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ09Df02.html
"The Barack Obama administration seems to have decided to work with Karzai, when the serach for a political settlement is shifting gear. Detractors and debunkers of Obama's war see things differently. The former US Central Intelligence Agency operative turned critic, Michael Scheuer says, 'The game is over and we are looking for a way out. Obama won't be able to hold his base for 2012 if he is not out of Afghanistan and Iraq...
Obama and Karzai agreed that a new US-Afghan Strategic Partnership Declaration would be ready by the time a NATO summit takes place in Lisbon in November.."
Robert Gates: 'We're Not Ever Leaving' Afghanistan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/bob-woodward-robert-gates_n_743...
"We're not leaving Afghanistan prematurely,' Gates finally said. 'In fact we're not ever leaving at all.'"
Insanity of the Afghan Endgame (and vid)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/10/insanity-...
"It doesn't need a murdered aid worker and a botched rescue mission to show you that the reasons for carring on grow more derisory day by day...The insanity of the endgame. And that is the reason to weep as Mark Evison's final moments flash across our screens. So much bravery, loyalty, devotion. So many young lives snuffed out.."
and so many warcrimes too - but not much protest from the Canucklehead quarter, least of all from their 'loyal' opposition
Tue, 2010-10-12 04:39
#36
Afghan War - Afghan Holocaust - Afghan Genocide
http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article20259
"The Afghan war has now entered its 10th year. It has now become the longest US war. As of Oct. 7, 2010, the human cost of the Afghan war has been estimated at about 4.9 million violent deaths or non-violent avoidable deaths from Occupier imposed deprivation..."
Wed, 2010-10-13 11:30
#37
"The tub-thumping pro-war lobby has launched another public relations campaign to convince Ottawa to extend the Afghan mission. In one of the most shameless tactics to date, these lobbyists have invoked the emotional appeals of parents whose sons and daughters were killed in Afghanistan to pressure Prime Minister Harper into reconsidering the July 20100 pullout date.."
Purely Emotional Plea not Constructive - by Scott Taylor
Wed, 2010-10-13 12:08
#38
Our "mission's" lies and the reality:
...The Red Cross report comes at a particularly inopportune time for NATO, as they issued their own report today claiming that the civilian death toll in the war was in “sharp decline.” The NATO report claimed only 88 civilians killed or wounded in air strikes this year, despite evidence that it was enormously more than this....
Gives a link to this Reuters story:
War casualties soar in south Afghanistan-Red CrossGENEVA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Security is deteriorating in Afghanistan, creating more war casualties and making it harder for aid agencies to reach people in need of food, water and health care, the Red Cross said on Tuesday.
In the southern city of Kandahar, Mirwais regional hospital registered nearly 1,000 war-wounded patients in August and September, record highs and double the number in the same period a year ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg, as those who suffer other sorts of injuries or contract disease as an indirect result of the conflict far outnumber weapon-wounded patients," said Reto Stocker, head of the ICRC delegation in Kabul.
Mothers often bring children suffering from treatable diseases such as tetanus or tuberculosis to hospital too late as they are afraid to travel or face roadblocks. Women die alone giving birth and healthy men succumb to simple infections....
Thu, 2010-10-14 04:51
#39
[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR201010... forces facilitating Afghan-Taliban talks[/url]
These secretive talks must go something like this:
fascist invaders: We demand that you break with al-CIA'duh, lay down your weapons, the ones we deliver to you once a month, and make with being our proxies, like last time.
Taliban: What the? Oh yeah riight? Just keep the money and weapons coming, and we'll make it look good. Ciao bellas. (gives secret stooge handshake to phony adversaries, ISI and Saudi "mediators", and drives off in Range Rover with Sinatra blaring from the stereo, "I did it my waaaaay!")
Thu, 2010-10-14 05:31
#40
IEA Statement Regarding the Baseless Claims and Futile Propaganda
http://www.scribd.com/doc/39292802/Statement-of-the-Islamic-Emirate-of-A...
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan assures the Muslims and Mujahid people of Afghanistan and all the Ummah that the Islamic Emirate will not accept any kind of negotiation or ceasefire with the invading enemy until and unless the invaders have pulled out of Afghanistan...
We would like to make it clear that thet the stance of the IEA is unequivocal.."
Baseless claims - no such negotiations going on.
Thu, 2010-10-14 16:07
#41
Charging of Australian Soldiers for Afghan Crimes Provokes Frenzied Reaction
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/char-o14.shtml
"The three soldiers are being prosecuted after an almost year long investigation by the Director of Military Prosecution (DMP); a legal arm of the armed forces that is formally independent of the government of the day. The details of the case have further fueled the popular opposition to a war that is repeatedly being exposed as a murderous and brutal neo-colonial occupation.."
Here in Canada, a similar lengthy investigation into allegations of 'improper killing' by Canada's special forces JTF2 has been largely covered up and suppressed. This is made easier due to the complicity of opposition parliamentarians and the relative acquiesence of the general public to the war. After all Canada is itself an ongoing 'neo-colonial occupation'
Thu, 2010-10-14 17:42
#42
Baseless claims - no such negotiations going on.
Well I have to admit that the Taliban really are making it look good. They're in bed with Uncle Sam like it was between 1992-2001 same as before only different. Only this time it's hard to tell who's screwing who.
They aren't really peace negotiations, Nodiff. Don't be fooled by vicious rumors of these clandestine backchannel talks. It makes our warmongers and the Taliban look too good.
It's done on purpose actually. It's low level noise is all it is, and just as you suggest really.
The two sides know their meetings are leaked to the public like this, and it's so as to make it appear that the two sides are actually interested in peace, which they aren't. Peace talks imply necessarily that there is an actual war taking place. There isn't.
In fact, they are co-operating to drag this phony war out as long as possible. People are getting rich, Lots ot drug running and weapons dealing worth billions of dollars. Billions of dollar siphoned from taxpayers in several countries all along. IT'S A GOOD THING for certain people involved.
[url=http://www.zcommunications.org/the-american-war-moves-to-pakistan-by-tar... make like Chatty Kathys[/url] Tariq Ali 2008
[url=http://versouk.wordpress.com/category/tariq-ali/][color=blue]Pakistan's army intelligence, the ISI, controls Taliban same as before[/color][/url] ISI = CIA
[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5823IL20090903]Are US taxpayers Funding the Taliban?[/url] Did the US and Brits send weapons and aid to the Khmer Rouge and insist that the leaders of 'Democratic Kampuchea' have seats at the UN? Yes! Yes they did
How do we say, "Phoney Baloney Fuckin' War on Terror", in American?
Thu, 2010-10-14 17:58
#43
How do we say, "Phoney Baloney Fuckin' War on Terror", in American?
Fidel apparently believes that if he calls it a "phoney war" 1 million times, then all the phoney dead people will be resurrected. I haven't been keeping an exact count, but I believe he's almost there. C'mon Fidel, round that last lap!!
Thu, 2010-10-14 18:22
#44
Unionist are you trying to bullshit us that Afghans are dying for a good cause and that it's only young Canadians and Americans who are duped into murdering other people for the sake of propping up a US economy largely based on war?
Pull the other one, it's got bells on. I'd like to believe in this noble idea of Afghan freedom and liberation, "just like VietNam", but I really can't. I've looked at the totality of the evidence based on reports here and there for the last several years, and I can't honestly believe that any of the principals involved are interested in such noble or even Nobel themes. It's fiction. This war is a fictitious lie from every conceivable angle.
Thu, 2010-10-14 18:43
#45
Bec.De.Corbin
Welcome back Unionist... hope you enjoyed your break or vacation or whatever.
If anything Iraq is the real "phoney war".
Thu, 2010-10-14 19:09
#46
I'd like to believe, too. But I can't. I don't blame Unionist or any other lefty who believes this will be another case of the US Military getting their tails kicked some time into the future. I think this war is orchestrated by both sides who are actually silent partners in the deal.The Taliban are feudal warlords, and so are their western world fixers who created the Taliban feudal and medieval in their thinking. They are all very compatible, and this "war" is just a minor disagreement between them.
But the US Military and NATO are not there in Central Asia to liberate anyone anymore than they are there in Iraq because Saddam had WMD. It's not a large leap of faith to understand that the whole thing is a lie and not just one half of it.
Thu, 2010-10-14 19:09
#47
Fidelio I hear you and am not unsympathetic to the scenario. But there is also indigenous resistance entirely authentic and effective, doing serious damage to this invading, occupying imperial force and quite possibly to the great gamesters up above as well, Obviously it's far from over.. so will continue to watch closely and ascertain the phoney baloney from perhaps choicer and more expensive cuts. ..things may become clearer sooner rather than later..
Thu, 2010-10-14 19:34
#48
Well there's no doubt that the US Military is getting their tails kicked. As for the rest, as I say we'll see how it plays out. It may not be as cohesive as you imagine re 'The Taliban'. I am led to believe there are people playing it pretty straight as far as repelling this invader. If the serious higher ups are doing deals, it wiould come as a surprise to these people and me - there are very committed Afghan, Islamist patriots and they wouldn't willingly be part of such a thing. I know that Kabul has some sellouts they pay for such things, but there's still many serious people not at all wearing the motorcycle jackets of America as far as I can tell. We'll see.
Thu, 2010-10-14 19:58
#49
Oh they are playing it straight - ordinary Afghans and insurgents coming in at the bottom that is. It's the other guys I'm worried about.
1. The US Military is not there to route "al-Qaeda." Let's be adults here and acknowledge there is no such thing.
2. The Taliban were the USA's proxies from 1992 to 2001 or so and perhaps still are in a roundabout way via the CIA's cold war pals, the ISI who still control the Taliban mullahs according to a number of reports. Mullah Omar was actually the Taliban leader most agreeable to UNOCAL's pipeline deal with the Taliban by 2001.
3. This is a colder now. NATO is way out of its jurisdiction with setting up shop on the edge of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They began this project at a time when the Taliban were there good friends running things in Kabul. That the US Military and NATO are still there after 10 years is not the only reality of it. The CIA has meddled in Afghanistan for over 30 years and counting. That Taliban didn't exist when the Yanks began interfering in Afghanistan. So this is actually a larger issue than the Taliban. ie a cold war that is now a colder war for world domination.
Thu, 2010-10-14 20:44
#50
Bec.De.Corbin
there are very committed Afghan, Islamist patriots and they wouldn't willingly be part of such a thing.
Interesting, so these are the Afghans Unionist and you insist are not the Taliban and are going to "win" the war... Unlike fildel I believe the Taliban are very fucking for real and I seriously doubt the Taliban are going to let them "Afghan, Islamist patriots" run the country after the war. They'll throw them under the bus just like the North Vietnamese did the Viet Cong. an enemy of my eniemy is me friend until he's my enemy, again.
Unless of course they're one and the same? But you two insist they are not; do I understand that right? [I'm not trolling here that's an honest question]
Thu, 2010-10-14 23:16
#51
[I'm not trolling here that's an honest question]
