The Truth About Afghanistan

[chefmike]

Another little problem that the chimp-in-chief would rather not talk about. But history will remember that Afghanistan is part of shrubya's legacy of failure...


Insurgent activity rising in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - Insurgent activity in Afghanistan has risen fourfold this year, and militants now launch more than 600 attacks a month, a rising wave of violence that has resulted in 3,700 deaths in 2006, a bleak new report released Sunday found.

In the volatile border area near Pakistan, more than 20 Taliban militants — and possibly as many as 60 — were killed during several days of clashes, officials said Sunday.

The new report said insurgents were launching more than 600 attacks a month as of the end of September, up from 300 a month at the end of March this year. The violence has killed more than 3,700 people this year, it said.

Afghanistan saw about 130 insurgent attacks a month last year, said the report by the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board, a body of Afghan and international officials charged with overseeing the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, a five-year reconstruction and development blueprint signed in February.

The violence "threatens to reverse some of the gains made in the recent past, with development activities being especially hard hit in several areas, resulting in partial or total withdrawal of international agencies in a number of the worst-affected provinces."

The report said that the rising drug trade in Afghanistan is fueling the insurgency in four volatile southern provinces. The slow pace of development is contributing to popular disaffection and ineffective implementation of the drug fight, it said.

Afghanistan's poppy crop, which is used to make heroin, increased by 59 percent in Afghanistan this past year.

Insurgents have launched a record number of roadside bombs and suicide attacks this year, and there have been clashes all year between insurgents and Afghan and NATO security forces, particularly in the southern and eastern provinces near the border with Pakistan.

*****

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061112/...as/afghanistan

[chefmike]

More about what is really going on in Afghanistan...

Farewell to Afghanistan: A Failed State Fails With Our Help

Remember Afghanistan? As we celebrate the transfer of power in the Capitol, let's remember that we are losing two wars simultaneously: one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. The reasons for the failures are linked in that surely the invasion of Iraq has totally distracted not just the military from Afghanistan, but the entire American political elite.


We must recall that in the immediate wake of 11 September 2001, an immensely popular President Bush called for the toppling of the Taliban government, which was completed five years ago, with a few troops and relatively little loss of life. The US led the world in pledging to make Afghanistan a modern state, replete with the physical and political infrastructure that embeds democracy. For a time, that seemed possible. But within months, war plans for Iraq preoccupied our military and within a year Afghanistan disappeared from political view. Osama bin Laden was forgotten as was all of Afghanistan.

Perhaps the saddest chapter of the Bush presidency will be written in the anonymous blood of American soldiers who died determined to build a free Afghanistan, but whose memory now is soiled by the Bush ideology of global dominion rather than global peace. America voted Tuesday to leave Iraq. America also voted for sanity. As committees are assigned, defense secretaries replaced and perspective partially restored, let us not forget that the terror emanated from Afghanistan and it likely could have ended there. Instead, we face an eerie and spectacularly similar fate to the Soviets who invaded Afghanistan in 1979, only to find ten years later that they had lost an empire by overreaching.

The riveting account below is from a native Afghan who has lived there nearly all his life, but has considerable familiarity with America. If this does not wake us up to the true nature of the problems the Bush Administration has wrought and that we all must fix, nothing will. I will not here reveal his name in order to help maintain the safety of him and his family. Suffice to say that having access to a person of this intellectual capacity with knowledge of two cultures would help to improve the understanding between the US and Afghanistan. Suffice to say that narrow minds have conspired to prevent that access, a symptom of fear and a prelude to failure of historic proportions.

During Eid I went to Afghanistan to see some friends including Mr.
Muttawakil, the ex-foreign minister (under the Taliban. Mutatwakil turned himself into the Americans early. He was interviewed and then set free, having been determined not to be a threat.). The situation in southwestern Afghanistan is not stable. It seems the Taliban control most of the southwest. Except for the major roads and government buildings the rest is with the Taliban. Yesterday while traveling from Kabul to Kandahar I saw two military vehicles on fire, which were ambushed by the Taliban on the main Kabul-Kandahar road. NATO and Afghan troops seemed very busy patrolling the highway.

In the face of growing suicide car bombs, the international troops have set their own traffic rules. No civilian vehicles may come close or over pass NATO vehicles, and the traffic coming from the opposite end must go off the road and stop. Violators would be shot. In Kandahar I went to the funeral of a friend who was a traveler in a taxicab that came under fire from Canadian troops in Kandahar city during Ramadan. The taxi driver had not stopped and was shot by Canadian troops. My friend, Ismatullah and the driver were completely burned. It had taken a week for Ismatullah's parents to recognize his body. On the second day of Eid nomads living in Panjwai district were "mistakenly" bombed. 82 were killed.

Kabul is not as bad yet, though sometimes there are suicide bombings and violent uprisings in the city. During my time in the country, I met and conversed with many people: drivers, travelers, shopkeepers, and government officials. It seemed the majority of the people (in my case everyone I met) did not think that the presence of international troops was the solution to the problem. In Kandahar, civilians could be seen running away from NATO convoys, because they fear that something might happen. Roles have changed.

NATO no more protects civilians; rather civilians protect themselves from NATO. The Canadians have clearly written on their vehicles in Pashto language that "citizens" must keep distance.

The Taliban on the other hand have become more radical. In a recently issued propaganda video, a Taliban commander could be seen beheading purported US spies (an un-Afghan act). Some Taliban soldiers (not all) kill whoever works with the Afghan Government. I think it is true that the Taliban have support among the Pashtuns, but I don't think the majority of the Pashtuns support them unconditionally. I think the reason the Taliban are becoming popular again is not because people love them. Rather, I think that the common people hate their Afghan opponents more than they hate the Taliban. Another factor in the increasing strength of the Taliban is the presence of foreign troops. Afghans in general do not like foreign troops, and especially if they are arrogant. A third and more important factor in the support for the Taliban is because of their strong resolve and loyalty to friends. People know that the Taliban will do what (good or bad) they say. Unlike the men in power, the Taliban are part of the common people.

They wear the same clothes, eat the same food, and speak simply. People know that the Taliban were in Afghanistan before they came to power, at the time of power, and when they were removed from power. This is not the case with Karzai and his ministers: They lived abroad before they were brought to power, and they will live abroad when they don't remain in power. For example Jalali, the former interior minister and Fazal Akbar, Karzai's former spokesman, did not choose to live in Afghanistan when they were removed from power. Therefore such individuals don't have the confidence of the people. I understand that many people who would like to support Kazrai's government do not do so because they fear that they would be left alone (when the US leaves) like the Soviets left the communists at the mercy of the Mujahideen (which gave way to the Taliban).

Beside other leadership flaws, Karzai lacks the ability to take initiatives.
In early 2004 Muttawakil and I suggested to Karzai that he talk with the Taliban unconditionally. He did not. Now he begs the Taliban for talks, but the Taliban put the withdrawal of foreign troops as a precondition. A few days ago, he even invited Mullah Omer, whom he earlier called an unforgivable criminal, for talks. The Taliban know that it was their military action that brought them back to the political scenario. I fear that if the Taliban keep gaining strength at the current pace, after a year or two they would reject talks with Karzai all together. Rather than changing circumstances with his policies, Kazai is changing his policies according to the circumstances. He is slow and passive.

I believe it is still not very late to stabilize the Pashtun areas. Last week, Karzai announced that he would ask NATO troops to leave an area if its people could ensure security. This is good. The British soldiers struck a similar deal with the people of Musa Qala district last month and it seems successful. Generally people don't mind if the new Afghan National Army (not the regional warlord militias), who are nice and polite, are deployed in their areas. I saw many people who strongly opposed foreign troops but praised the new National Army. I believe that if half the resources currently wasted on the presence of NATO troops are spent on the expansion of the National Army, the situation could be normalized significantly.

I could write a more comprehensive piece if I believed it would make a change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-j...-_b_33967.html

[guyone]

I'm sure the soldiers in Afghanistan appreciate your constant lack of faith in their abilities.

[chefmike]

I'm sure the soldiers in Afghanistan appreciate your constant lack of faith in their abilities.

Your petulant remark is total BS, as it isn't even remotely accurate about how I feel about matters in Afghanistan. Nor do the articles posted in this thread reflect that sentiment. This isn't about not supporting the troops, Gomer. It's about the neo-con chickenhawk crooks and liars responsible for the failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Remember Afghanistan? As we celebrate the transfer of power in the Capitol, let's remember that we are losing two wars simultaneously: one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. The reasons for the failures are linked in that surely the invasion of Iraq has totally distracted not just the military from Afghanistan, but the entire American political elite.

Perhaps the saddest chapter of the Bush presidency will be written in the anonymous blood of American soldiers who died determined to build a free Afghanistan, but whose memory now is soiled by the Bush ideology of global dominion rather than global peace. America voted Tuesday to leave Iraq. America also voted for sanity. As committees are assigned, defense secretaries replaced and perspective partially restored, let us not forget that the terror emanated from Afghanistan and it likely could have ended there. Instead, we face an eerie and spectacularly similar fate to the Soviets who invaded Afghanistan in 1979, only to find ten years later that they had lost an empire by overreaching.

[guyone]

My petulant remark was caused by a petulant frenzy.

[chefmike]

My petulant remark was caused by a petulant frenzy.

LMAO...I can see why you're in a petulant frenzy, pilgram. You're a Bush apologist and the fact that Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, are both disastrous failures is a bit too much for you to accept.

The truth? You can't handle the truth...

[bucatini70]

what is the source of that of the story?

[guyone]

Ariana Huffington...in the words of Stan Lee " 'Nuff said!"

[bucatini70]

and Ms. Huffington reseached this story from where? i just am asking coz it doesn't seem to matter which "side" someone is on that the main source of information comes from the op ed pages. It was boring to listen to all the Clinton bashers and it is still boring to listen to all the Bush bashers how about the "obsessed with a party people" spend their energies on solutions and quit the constant bitching and moaning?

[chefmike]

and Ms. Huffington reseached this story from where? i just am asking coz it doesn't seem to matter which "side" someone is on that the main source of information comes from the op ed pages.

The first article posted is an AP news article, and it's figures have not been disputed by anyone.

The second article from the Huffington Post states the following:

The riveting account below is from a native Afghan who has lived there nearly all his life, but has considerable familiarity with America. If this does not wake us up to the true nature of the problems the Bush Administration has wrought and that we all must fix, nothing will. I will not here reveal his name in order to help maintain the safety of him and his family. Suffice to say that having access to a person of this intellectual capacity with knowledge of two cultures would help to improve the understanding between the US and Afghanistan. Suffice to say that narrow minds have conspired to prevent that access, a symptom of fear and a prelude to failure of historic proportions.



The AP news article posted, and the first-hand account that follows it in HP, are just a few of many articles describing the current situation in Afghanistan and its 'Forgotten War'.

another one-
http://www.newsobserver.com/110/story/490974.html