In Afghanistan, pre-CIA, locked doors were rare and foreigners were welcomed and protected. Even a

[ConsAreLiars]

blue-jeans wearing female with a bandanna barely covering some head-hair.

No sure what prompted this recollection, but while traveling overland through Afghanistan we spent a night at an inn in Kandahar. Still being used to capitalist societies, and not yet comprehending that we were seen/regarded as guests, I asked the inn-keeper for a padlock for the door.

The language barrier was very high, but after some searching around I got the lock along with the understanding that the inn-keeper believed that I intended to use it to keep my companion imprisoned/protected (two views of the same fact - like burkas, think about it) while going out. Of course, I was just worried that someone would go in and grab my stuff, probable enough in my world but something that was unimaginable within that kind of society. We were guests, not prey. An attitude and belief system I had only half-way experienced in Scandinavia,

This is just a fact-check against those who buy the RW hate-mongerings that portray the Afghan people as murderous savages. (Like the Indians, Japs, Gooks and all that usual and predictable labeling done by corporatist imperialists in order to herd the dumbass sheeples into Rah!Rah! compliance.)

Before the CIA began fostering and importing and arming religiously insane monsters, Afghanistan was one of the most tolerant and welcoming and guest-protective societies anywhere on this poor planet.

[EFerrari]

1. The CIA is a global menace and should be shut down immediately.

How amazing that you went there. The padlock story is brilliant.

[ConsAreLiars]

2. Few realize the evil being done to basically decent people every murderous day

that the empire slaughters all those it encounters.

From Luke Powell's stunning 3 decades of photos: http://www.lukepowell.com/



For overland travelers arriving from the West, from Meshed and the bright deserts of Khurasan, Herat was the first Afghan city encountered, and this tree-lined street led into the city. As I lay on the bed my first day in Herat, stunned by the journey, an awareness of having entered a different world came slowly and gently. There were canaries and finches singing in the halls. Outside there were few motor or radio sounds. Instead, the klip-klop, klip-klop, chinga-ling-ling of carriages passing by mixed with the vendors voices, the cries and songs of children, and the bleating of sheep and goats herded through wide boulevards. In November, 1971 soldiers still occupied ancient citadels, and men rode by on horseback with flowing robes.

(edit tiny typo)

[pnorman]

7. Here's one photo that grabbed me.

Double amputee:

[ConsAreLiars]

9. Yes, the truth.

I have images in my mind of the butchering of children and others done by the US military in places from Vietnam to Iraq on behalf of transnational capitalism, and they tell the same story. "For profit" is the highest value they serve.

[Greyhound]

4. Their purpose is both illegal in every nation on earth, including ours,

and horribly destructive to the American People.

Again I turn to General Butler's proposed military structure as the solution to nearly every international problem we face.

[tblue]

3. This is so lovely and sad. Thanks for sharing.

I get tired of bring told to be "realistic." That war is the preferred option. If we don't do it, people will die.

I saw a photo exhibit of pre-Soviet-war Afghanistan a few months ago.. The people were poor, shepherds mainly, or pottery sellers. They just wanted to make a living and feed their families, just like everyone else.

[cali]

5. yeah, the Soviet invasion had nothing to do with it. gad, talk about selective

revisionist, simplistic history. You win the prize for that today.

[Enrique]

6. the Soviet invasion wouldn't have happened if we weren't supporting the insurgents

the Civil War would have been a lot shorter and Afghanistan would have become a Soviet satellite and we may never have heard of the Taliban and those Buddhist statues might still be standing today.

[ConsAreLiars]

8. You mindlessly regurgitate corporate disinformation and believe it? !!!

Take off those blinders, and look at how things actually work in the real world. Don't continue being a mindless tool or fool mouthing whatever nonsense the puppetmasters provide.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski

Brzezinski, known for his hardline policies on the Soviet Union, initiated in 1979 a campaign supporting mujaheddin in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were run by Pakistani security services with financial support from the CIA and Britain's MI6. This policy had the explicit aim of promoting radical Islamist and anti-Communist forces to overthrow the secular communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan government in Afghanistan, which had been destabilized by coup attempts against Hafizullah Amin, the power struggle within the Soviet-supported Parcham faction of the PDPA and a subsequent Soviet military intervention.
...
In 1998, Brzezinski was interviewed by the French newspaper Nouvel Observateur on the topic of Afghanistan. He revealed that CIA support for the mujaheddin had started before the 1979 Soviet invasion. Brzezinski saw the invasion as an opportunity to embroil the Soviet Union in a bloody conflict comparable to the US experience in Vietnam. He referred to this as the "Afghan Trap" and viewed the end of the Soviet empire as worth the cost of strengthening militant Islamic groups.

He went on to say in that interview, "What is most important to the history of the world? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?" When the interviewer questioned him about Islamic fundamentalism representing a world menace, Brzezinski said, "Nonsense!" <28><29>



The interview, at http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html :

Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?

B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?

B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.

B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.

[cali]

16. no, honeypie, you're the one doing the mindless thing.

I recognize that it was both the U.S. and the Soviet Union who destroyed Afghanistan. You, sweetie, are so mindlessly consumed with your big hate on, that you can't see the facts.

Merry Christmas.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. When, exactly was the "pre-CIA" era of which you are referring?

How long ago do you think that was?

[ConsAreLiars]

11. That was a bit of shorthand.

As you probably know, the CIA was built after WWII by incorporating anti-commie Nazi operatives into that agency. The reference was to time before the funding, importing and arming of the religiously insane mass murderers began in Afghanistan.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. My question was worded poorly. I'll ask again;

When was the pre-CIA era in Afghanistan?

How long do you think the CIA has been involved over there?

[ConsAreLiars]

13. Well, I'm sure they were there from the first days of the CIA because of the

geography. Maybe just a new hires at first, but much more later on. After our time in that strange but welcoming world, I am deeply saddened by what had been done to those who I met.

[XemaSab]

14. It was like that when my grandpa went to Saudi in the 50's

By the time he left in the 70's things were very different. :(

[Hippo_Tron]

15. It's pretty well established that Afghanistan was a victim of Cold War squabbles

But if you ask people like Zbigniew Brzezinski, they will tell you that defeating the Soviet Union was worth the cost.