[Peace-discuss] What do Afghans want?

[C. G. Estabrook]

[On WILL's "Focus 580" yesterday a Rand Corp. apologist for the US invasion of 
Afghanistan asserted amazingly that Afghans wanted the US military there. It's 
obviously difficult to conduct polls where the US is making war, but there is 
some evidence, as below.  --CGE]

"...it may be useful to pay attention to the recent report from Afghanistan by 
Sir Rodric Braithwaite, a specialist on Afghanistan who was UK ambassador to 
Moscow from 1988-92 and then chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. After 
a recent visit to Afghanistan, during which he interviewed a wide range of 
people, he concludes that most Afghans are 'contemptuous of President Hamid 
Karzai, whom they compared to Shah Shujah, the British puppet installed during 
the first Afghan war. Most preferred Mohammad Najibullah, the last communist 
president, who attempted to reconcile the nation within an Islamic state, and 
was butchered by the Taliban in 1996: DVDs of his speeches are being sold on the 
streets. Things were, they said, better under the Soviets. Kabul was secure, 
women were employed, the Soviets built factories, roads, schools and hospitals, 
Russian children played safely in the streets. The Russian soldiers fought 
bravely on the ground like real warriors, instead of killing women and children 
from the air. Even the Taliban were not so bad: they were good Muslims, kept 
order, and respected women in their own way. These myths may not reflect 
historical reality, but they do measure a deep disillusionment with the 
"coalition" and its policies.'

"This important report in the London Financial Times received no mention, to my 
knowledge, in the United States, though the FT is of course widely read..."

http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20081102.htm