Better paid, better armed: Taliban rise again

[maddezmom]

Reedi Gul is probably dead now. Two weeks ago masked gunmen abducted the 24-year-old on a lonely mountain road in central Afghanistan. The next day his father, Saleh Gul, received a phone call, and realised he was the real target.

"I am an Afghan Muslim Talib," the voice announced. "If you want to see your son alive, listen carefully."

Three weeks earlier Saleh Gul had been appointed governor of an insurgent-infested district in Ghazni province. The Taliban demanded he quit his job, pay a ransom, attack United States forces and assassinate local officials.

Gul paid $2 000 and resigned his position, but refused to kill. "I am not a terrorist," he barked down the phone. So the Taliban added an impossible demand: the freedom of an imprisoned commander.

Last Sunday their deadline passed. "Still no news," the anguished father said four days later. "I think they have killed him by now." Gul's face was lined with worry but his voice rang with anger. "I had warned the government this might happen. I told them Taliban was taking over. Why can't they stop them?"

more:http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=284202&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

[salin]

1. kick

[rodeodance]

2. Talk to Tribal Chiefs by Bashir Goth (the Pashtun tribe of Afghan)

the author
Bashir Goth
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES/SOMALIA
bashir Goth
Goth is a veteran journalist, freelance writer, the first Somali blogger and editor of a leading news website . He is also a regular contributor to major Middle Eastern and African newspapers and online journals.


http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/bashir_goth/2006/09/talk_to_tribal_chiefs_1.html

Talk to Tribal Chiefs

Somalia/United Arab Emirates - This is a war that NATO cannot win by brute force alone. Islam may be the battle cry of the insurgency, but in reality the Taliban is nothing but Pashtun men fighting for the dignity of their tribe. Their alliance with the Al Qaeda is one of expediency. It is not a rock solid alliance based on the defense of Islam. Talking to tribal leaders is the solution.

The war between the Taliban and NATO is a dual between might and pride, between Western values of democracy and time-tested tribal rule, between soldiers hiding behind tanks, bogged down by heavy baggage and boots fighting only for survival and light footed nomads fighting for their soil and for their tribal dignity. The Pashtuns, the dominant tribes of Afghanistan, of whom the Taliban draws their men and money, see this war as another battle in their long history of resisting and defeating foreign occupiers.

The Taliban soldier sees himself in a win-win situation. If he dies, he is a martyr and if he survives he is defending his tribe, his soil and his faith. But in contrast, the NATO soldier does not see a patriotic cause for his war. His only concern is to stay alive. This is a war that went awry from the start because the U.S.-led coalition forces, with their notion of democracy as being a medicine for all political, economic and social ills of any society regardless of their unbridgeable differences with the West, have ignored the complex and delicate tribal balances and traditional ways of running their affairs.

The Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan, saw themselves as defeated, humiliated and sidelined. Like any tribal society, the Afghan people's trust and loyalty lies with their elders. They are the custodians of the clan's identity, property, sovereignty and above all honor and pride. If the elder's opinion is ignored the whole clan feels humiliated and rallies behind him. It is on this issue that the U.S-led West always fails in all its engagements in tribal societies. By imposing their prepackaged fit-for-all ideologies they disregard the traditional role of the elders and rely on men that enjoy little or no respect from the tribe. Baffled by the white man's sheer ignorance of the value of men, a Somali poet once said: " Allahayow faranjigii muxuu doqon fariideeyey, Muxuu faydalaawiyo nin rag ah fayl u wada joojay" (Oh my God! how often the white man adorns fools with wise qualities, how often he places inferior men in the same rank as men of sagacity). This ignorance of the value of men is indeed the reason for the failure of the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq and before them in Somalia.

.....

By Bashir Goth | September 15, 2006; 10:17 AM ET
Previous: Respect Tribes: They Do What Weak States Cannot |

[Igel]

4. There are definitions of dignity that are incompatible with

certain kinds of thinking. Some kinds of dignity have no right to exist.

The KKK was out to preserve white dignity. 'Dignity' involved being superior, and being "properly" respected. "Uppity" wasn't just an accidental choice of word.

Globalism has run up against tribalism. And is too muddled to realize that 'dignity' and 'honor' are polysemous. Critical thinking requires discrimination; but we've reduced all discrimination to an evil, and the word 'critical' to nothing more than 'saying bad things about'.

Sad. Trying to popularize learning has merely made it populist.

[soothsayer]

3. Why didn't we stop them from destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas?

Grrrrr! I'm still mad about that.

[bhikkhu]

6. No need for anger, if you consider the subject

Would the buddha have minded what was done, or wished to be portrayed in impermanent material whose loss would cause anger, or be used as someone's justification for war?

[IndianaGreen]

5. Saudi intelligence service and the Kuwaitis

I would be shocked if the Saudi intelligence service and the Kuwaitis were not trying to find ways to get money to the Taliban," said Michael Scheuer, a former CIA agent with 20 years' experience in the region.

Many Afghans are bewildered by the west's failure to bring the fight to the heart of the problem - neighbouring Pakistan. Maulvi Aladat pointed to the glowing horizon. "It is as clear as the sun is setting," he said. "Everyone knows where they are trained and funded, where the suicide bombers come from. Everyone knows."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1873769,00.html

I wonder if an enlightened President of the US, which Bush is not, would have handled this differently by going against Al-Qaeda and dealing with Taliban differently.