The Afghan People Will Win Part 24
Notes from a war that is going badly as usual:
At least nine American members of the NATO occupation force were killed today in Kabul Airport when an apparent argument with a pilot turned into a shootout. The pilot killed eight NATO soldiers and one NATO civilian contractor before being slain himself.
The pilot had been employed as a pilot for 20 years, although the Afghan Defense Ministry claimed today that he suffered from some unnamed "mental illness."
... NATO has declined to release the nationalities of any of the slain but multiple sources confirmed all were Americans. It is the second time in as many [sic] week that eight NATO soldiers have been killed in a single day, and raised the already record April death toll even further.
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/04/27/pilot-kills-eight-us-soldiers-one-con...
Taliban And Al-Qaeda: Friends In Arms - by Syed Saleem Shahzad
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ME05Df02.html
"At the end of the day, all mujahideen are one and the jihad will not end up only in Afghanistan. It will go a long way. The monarchs and dictators of the Arab world are usurpers. The situation has rapidly turned favorable for us and therefore the mujahideen from Afghanistan will join forces with the Arabs.."
Afghan Police Committing Crimes With Impunity
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8503215/Afgha...
"Afghan police are committing crimes such as child sex abuse, torture and killings with impunity, says Oxfam.."
the police are themselves part of the western imposed criminal occupation, so no surprise. Trained by the west, including RCMP.
With the death of Bin Laden, the Taliban won't miss him:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110511/wl_time/08599207064000
Karzai Told to Dump U.S.
Pakistan Urges Afghanistan to Ally With Islamabad, Beijing
'White Phosphorous Used in Afghan War'
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/179875.html
"Leaked documents have revealed that US-led forces in Afghanistan have made extensive use of white phosphorous bombs in densely populated areas..."
Afghan Civilians Intentionally Targeted By NATO/ISAF Forces
http://afghansforpeace.org/archives/1291
"...Afghan civilians are the main targets of deadly attacks by NATO and ISAF. These are not isolated incidents or simply negligence but an ongoing pattern."
NATO Official Salutes Canada For Sacrifice in Afghanistan: Cites 'Impressive' Achievements
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/NATO+official+salutes+Canada+Afghanist...
"NATO's top commander in Afghanistan thanked Canadian taxpayers and praised Canadian combat troops Monday for having 'sacrificed greatly' to 'dramatically improve' Kandahar since arriving to fight the Taliban in 2006. 'The achievements of the past year have been particularly impressive', Gen. David Petraeus said during a three hour visit..."
high praise from top Nazi for Canada's complicity in war crimes
Kill/Capture (and vid)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kill-capture/
"A closer look at the secretive program that's targeted 12,000 Taliban and Al Qaeda fighers this year...Gen. David Petraeus, since he took command of troops last year, has ordered a major expansion of these 'manhunt' missions..."
and Canada's Special Forces involvement in these and similiar programs has yet to be fully disclosed...
Here is some cause for optimism on the Afghan front:
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/05/26/house-call-to-end-afghan-war-suffers-...
Afghanistan: 112 Killed In Nato Airstrike in Nuristan: Governor
http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2011/05/28/112-killed-nuristan-airstrike-governor
"As many as 112 people were killed in an airstrike by NATO led troops in the remote province of Nuristan, a senior official said on Saturday.."
the endless warcrimes by NATO continue
Russia - US Copter Deal For Afghan War
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182202.html
"Russian arms expert corporation Rosoboronexport has signed a $300 Million deal with US Defense Department to supply 21 Mil Mi-17 multirole helicopters to Afghanistan for use in US-led military operations..."
business is business after all
US Ashamed To Admit Afghan War Defeat' (and vid)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/182235.html
'Militant attacks continue in Afghanistan more than ever, 10 years after the US-led invasions and despite the pressure of about 150,000 troops there.."
Afghan Killings
http://arabnews.com/opinion/editorial/article441990.ece
"For the United States and its NATO allies, the killing of 52 Afghan civilians, at least 12 of them young children and women Saturday night in another airstrike is merely another statistic..,"
Has there ever been people more blase and unconcerned about the killing in their name - less protesting - than Canadians? What a shameful lack of humanity that they have allowed this to go on. And now Libya.
The NATO "reply" to Karzai's remarks were quite chilling ...
translation: if you get in our way, then you will die. We would rather kill everyone than fail to kill (Taliban - N.Beltov) someone.
Karzai seeks to limit NATO, etc.
Karzai, illegitimate as he may be, warns in a statement that if NATO continues to treat Afghanistan as an occupied country, Afghans will have to "act unilaterally" against the occupation, and that Afghans "know how to deal with occupiers".
So it seems that NATO can make the easy decision and just stop bombing the place to hell, or it can continue and probably ignite large-scale retaliation.
Or, they could just assassinate Karzai and send a strong message to any would-be upstarts.
Six More Years: US General Wants to Train Afghan Units Until '2017':
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/six-more-years-u-s-general-wants...
Guess what Canada - we could be there for a while...
Wedded To The Warlords: NATO's Unholy Afghan Alliance - by Graeme Smith
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/wedded-to-the-warlords-natos-u...
"...A strongman dies and another rises. The bloody politics of Afghanistan travelled full circle with the death of General Doud Daud in the north and the promotion of Brigadier Abdul Razik in the south. The fall of one mirrored the rise of the other, marking the loss of an older generation of warlords and the birth of a new class of often brutal allies to whom NATO intends to start transferring power this summer..."
what evil we now fight for under NATO and how easily most simply avert their eyes or pretend to 'oppose' even while doing nothing of the sort. Perhaps voting for 'representatives' who also pretend to 'oppose' while doing nothing of the sort. There is no difference between either party in this awful shared mendacity.
So, in other words, we are doing now exactly what we did in 1990-1996 after the Russians pulled out of Afghanistan. We are supporting the warlords just like we did back then when we continued the war against the legitimate Afghan government. Among the warlords and insurgent groups we supported then and are fighting now were Mullah Mohammad Omar and the Taliban, the Hiqqanis and their Hiqqani network, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezbe-i-Islami (Gulbuddin) HIG network and Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, among others.
What a stupid, wasteful and useless war this is.
But then again, I suppose all wars are.
Afghanistan: Why Civilians Are Killed? A People's War Not A 'War On Terror' - by James Petras
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25191
"The recent rash of civilian killings by NATO forces in occupied Afghanistan raises several basic questions: Why do US - NATO air and ground forces kill so many civilians, so persistently, over such long stretches of time, in regions throughout the country...?"
And another basic question: why are Canucklheads so oblivious to these deaths at the hands of THEIR soldiers and politicians?
Canada Paid $1 Million in Compensation to Afghan Civilians Caught in the Crossfire
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/123531844.html
"The Canadian government has shelled out more than $1 million in goodwill payments to compensate hundreds of Afghans for deaths and damages incurred over the course of Canada's mission in Afghanistan.."
What a great deal! Far less than the $804 Million pension plan costs for our MPs and Senators responsible for approving this war..
That's it? They deserve our freshly beating hearts for what we've done to them.
Afghan Militants Torch 20 NATO Tankers
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184436.html
"...Afghan militants say their assaults are in retaliation for US strikes on Afghanistan's tribal regions.."
Down with NATO! Out of Afghanistan!
Well if Canadians really are serious about withdrawing troops from Lib-Tory operation kiss uncle Sam's derrriere in the Stan, they'll just have to vote strategically for the NDP next time.
have you been promised a senate seat or something for all your labours on their behalf? Better for Canadian civil society to organize and strengthen itself so that it can put the fear of god up the ass of any pols that defy its wishes. Besides the NDP press releases positively swooned over Obama the last time I looked - 'learning from the best' and all that rot. Like their pro-Israel tendancies, they won't oppose the empire over Afghanistan - only pretend to to keep suckers like you on the hook.
Ninety Percent Of Petraeus's Captured 'Taliban' Were Civilians - by Gareth Porter
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56038
"...The timing of Petraeus's claim that Taliban fighters captured or killed, moreover, indicates that he knews that four out of five of those he was claiming as 'captured Taliban rank and file' were not Taliban fighters at all.."
Saleem Shahzad was a Pakistani investigative journalist who was murdered for his allegations that factions within the Pakistani military were allied with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. In an interview on The Real News, he outlined where the splits lay.
If the Pakistani military is on the verge of mutiny, then the entire conflict in that region is absolutely incendiary and threatens to engulf the entire world. The US uses terrorism as a pretext for imperialism, and the radical Islamists use greater American encroachment as a pretext for more widespread chaos. It's only a matter of time before public outrage in Central Asia lends itself to the global jihad. America will be hit harder than ever before.
I still don't understand why the US playmakers don't see that there's no way this ends well at the rate they're going. Even their profits will take a nosedive when the populations of those Central Asian states turn all guns on the West.
Last Interview at TRNN with Saleem Shahzad
Review of Saleem Shahzad's Book with Gareth Porter on TRNN
Afghan Detainee Documents To Be Released - by Bryn Weese
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/06/19/18304726.html
"The coveted and long-awaited Afghan detainee documents - the first tranche of 25,000 or so anyway - are set to be released Wednesday, QMI Agency has learned. There are only four days this week when the House of Commons is sitting before MPs vamoose for the summer until September 19, and the documents have been ready for release since the election..."
Can hardly wait for The Afghan People Will Win Someday in the Distant Future Part 106 thread.
Have Afghans never heard of the "Arab Spring" threads on babble where wishy washy liberal types based out of Canada backup desperately poor people still under siege 30 years later by Mackinder wannabes?
Behind Obama's Afghan Withdrawal Decision - by Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jun2011/pers-j21.shtml
"...The real objective of this war is to secure for US imperialism a base of operations for projecting its domination over the energy-rick region of Central Asia and for control over the pipeline routes for funneling this natural wealth to the West..."
Obama's Afganistan Withdrawal speech in one hour - 800pm.
ETA: Obama's Too-Slow Afghan "Exit" Strategy Scores Him No Political Points
Scathing review of Obama's Afghanistan policy:
The Fragile Vanity of the War Criminalhttp://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2011/06/fragile-vanity-of-war-crimi...
And Obama's Afghanistan withdrawl speech:
Every Word He Utters Is a Liehttp://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2011/06/every-word-he-utters-is-lie...
Could somebody please remind me why we are supposed to support the troops?