[Peace-discuss] Who are we defending in Afghanistan?

Wed Sep 13 21:21:19 CDT 2006

Thanks, Randall-

This info is important.  Afghanistan is a harder nut
to crack than Iraq, in terms of people seeing it as a
bad idea.  (Even my former housemate who was in the
Army in Baghdad, and a lefty, thought the Afghan
invasion was a-ok.)  And for that very reason I think
we shouldn't let it drop.

If refusing to extradite accused war criminals is a
bombing, invading, state-toppling offense, after all,
the US had better hope the rest of the world doesn't
decide to agree with that principle... 

Ricky

--- Randall Cotton <recotton at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Indeed, things are deteriorating all the way around
> in Afghanistan these days.
> Here's a small window into what's really happening
> on the ground.
> 
> Excerpts from a BBC story (link below):
> 
> Captain Leo Docherty was so unhappy with operations
> in Helmand province he quit
> the British Army last month.
> 
> The campaign was "a textbook case of how to screw up
> a counter-insurgency" the
> ex-aide de camp to the commander of the UK taskforce
> told the Sunday Times.
> 
> Having a big old fight is pointless and just making
> things worse," the former
> Scots Guardsman was quoted as saying. Now the ground
> has been lost and all we're
> doing in places like Sangin is surviving
> 
> He said: "All those people whose homes have been
> destroyed and sons killed are
> going to turn against the British.  "It's a pretty
> clear equation - if people
> are losing homes and poppy fields, they will go and
> fight. I certainly would."
> 
> Capt Docherty described the campaign as "grotesquely
> clumsy" and said the
> British were no different to US forces by bombing
> and strafing villages.
> 
> The British threw away the opportunity to win over
> locals by failing to carry
> out development work because of a lack of support,
> Capt Docherty added.
> 
> "Now the ground has been lost and all we're doing in
> places like Sangin is
> surviving. It's completely barking mad."
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5332570.stm
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ricky Baldwin" <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>
> To: "peace discuss"
> <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 2:48 PM
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] Who are we defending in
> Afghanistan?
> 
> 
> : Considering the length and the source, I think
> this is
> : pretty damn good.  Sometimse we forget about
> : Afghanistan.  We shouldn't.
> :
> : -Ricky
> :
> :
> : Who Are We Defending in Afghanistan?
> : September 8, 2006
> :
> : In recent months, Canadians have been the
> recipients
> : of a fierce selling-job on our military's role in
> : Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has
> claimed
> : our mission is both honourable and just, and I
> have no
> : doubt this echoes the sentiments of our troops.
> :
> : Prime Minister Harper has said Canada won't "cut
> and
> : run" in Afghanistan, and suggested other
> "weak-kneed"
> : parliamentarians fall in line. Hordes of pundits
> have
> : agreed, and suggested dissenters are damaging our
> : troops' morale and Canada's role in the "War on
> : Terrorism."
> :
> : Canadians have seen this movie before. It went
> : something like: "you're either with us, or you're
> with
> : the terrorists." Currently, that view of foreign
> : policy earns about 36% support of the US
> electorate.
> : Surely Canadians deserve a better explanation
> about
> : why we've committed to our largest military
> deployment
> : in 50 years.
> :
> : Simply put, Prime Minister, whose interests are we
> : defending in Afghanistan?
> :
> : I am told it is a democratically-elected
> government
> : engaged in a war with "brutal insurgents."
> :
> : Many human rights groups have begged to differ,
> : however, and it is time Canadians got a fuller
> : appreciation of this story.
> :
> : Human Rights Watch authored a chilling report
> called
> : Blood Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and
> : Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity. The Senalis
> Council
> : in Britain followed with its own study, Canada in
> : Kandahar: No Peace to Keep. Carol Off produced a
> : thought-provoking documentary on CBC's The
> National in
> : March 2006 entitled The Warlords Take Office.
> :
> : All of these studies reveal disturbing information
> : most Afghanis know well, and when the lives of
> : Canadian soldiers are on the line, it's best not
> to
> : mince words.
> :
> : At the moment, Canada is sending its troops to
> support
> : a parliament that is already half-dominated by
> : drug-trafficking warlords, many of whom have
> committed
> : atrocities against their own people during
> : Afghanistan's civil war in the early 1990s.
> :
> : These warlords - like Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is
> now
> : Afghanistan's Deputy Minister of Defence - killed
> : thousands of innocent Afghanis, and now drape
> : themselves in the language of democracy.
> :
> : Making matters worse, billions of dollars in
> : development funds pledged by nations worldwide
> have
> : gone missing, while palatial homes and posh
> : developments are under construction in Kabul, many
> of
> : which are connected to warlords in parliament.
> :
> : The US military strategy adopted by NATO hasn't
> : brought peace, reduced poverty, stopped heroin
> : production, or helped reconstruct Afghanistan.
> :
> : Over 1,600 Afghanis have died in the last four
> months
> : alone. The heroin trade is fielding a bumper crop.
> : Afghanis are mired in terrible poverty, while
> brothels
> : have sprung up in abundance to service foreign
> : contractors in Kabul.
> :
> : In these conditions, it is hardly surprising that
> an
> : Afghan resistance movement has emerged. These
> forces,
> : which include Taliban elements, refer to Hamid
> Karzai
> : as "the mayor of Kabul", or "assistant to the
> American
> : ambassador". They are increasingly supported by
> : Afghanis grown weary from NATO and Karzai's broken
> : promises.
> :
> : That's right Prime Minister. At the moment, our
> : military isn't fighting the forces of corruption,
> : violence and the heroin trade. We're supporting
> them,
> : and this is never told to the thousands of
> Canadian
> : soldiers sent to the battlegrounds of Kandahar.
> :
> : But don't take my word for it. Talk to Malalai
> Joya,
> : the Afghan parliamentarian who has faced death
> threats
> : for daring to spotlight the abuses perpetrated
> daily
> : by warlords in the Karzai regime.
> :
> : Prime Minster, I fully support our troops, that's
> why
> : I don't want them engaged in a fight that only
> : benefits a government chock full of despots and
> : heroin-runners. I urge you again to heed the words
> of
> : Malalai Joya, who had this to say about the
> prospects
> : for peace in her country:
> :
> : "The situation in Afghanistan and conditions for
> women
> : will not change positively until the warlords have
> : been disarmed and both the pro-US and anti-US
> : terrorists are removed from the political scene in
> : Afghanistan. And it is the responsibility of the
> : Afghan people to accomplish this goal."
> :
> : Ken Georgetti is president of the Canadian Labour
> : Congress, the largest trade union federation in
> : Canada, representing three million workers.
> :
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