The US and NATO sinking in Afghanistan

[IndianaGreen]

Sri Lanka Guardian, November 30, 2009

The US and NATO sinking in Afghanistan

What has the US and the NATO achieved in Afghanistan? They failed to get Osama bi Laden and Mullah Omer. They failed to secure the country.

By Saybhan Samat

It is now very clear that the US and NATO have achieved nothing of substance in their adventure into Afghanistan and are sinking in the quagmire deeper every day.

The US now desperately needs an exit strategy that looks like a win for two reasons: First its reputation as a mighty military power that can’t be beaten, and especially by tribal clansmen. Second if it withdraws empty-handed, how does it explain the rising number of troop deaths and the billions that are still being poured into a narco-state that is corrupt, in the middle of an economic down-turn at home.

The insurgency in Afghanistan is spreading rapidly as the latest survey conducted by the International Council of Security and Development (ICOS) shows. Its latest research indicates that 80% of the country has a permanent Taliban presence up from72% in 2008, and that 97% of the country has “substantial Taliban activity.” The organization has tracked Taliban movement throughout Afghanistan since 2007. Even with such alarming figures the organization’s president, MS Norine Mc Donald QC told the internet web-site Huffington Post that she believed the figure was “conservative.” “Its bad numbers and bad news” she said. “They (the Taliban) have the momentum, their strategies and tactics are working and our’s are not….. its not a question of where they are operating its more a question of where they are not.”

Increased resistance activity has led to more occupation soldiers dying and an alarming escalation in air-strikes that have caused massive civilian causalities. On September 4th, an air strike on two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban who were dispensing fuel to locals in Kunduz resulted in more than 90 civilians deaths. Villagers were able to retrieve only fragments of their loved one’s body parts after the Americans deployed one of their favourite strategies of winning hearts and minds by dropping 1000 pound bombs from the air.

Combined with instability arising from the recent presidential election in which allegations of wide spread electoral fraud were made and the country even more divided between the majority Pashtuns and the minority Tajiks, this is a sure recipe for disaster. Hitherto, northern Afghanistan was relatively calm and there was little resistance activity there but as the Kunduz episode shows, this has now spread much further.

What has the US and the NATO achieved in Afghanistan? They failed to get Osama bi Laden and Mullah Omer. They failed to secure the country. They failed to introduce Western democracy. They failed to better the lot of women and girls. They failed to halt the poppy trade, they failed in their reconstruction efforts and they failed to win the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan. All In all both the US and NATO have failed miserably. The only way out is to adopt an exit strategy to look like a win.

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/11/us-and-nato-sinking-in-afghanistan.html

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2009/11/30/the-us-and-nato-sinking-in-afghanistan.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. Sri Lanka Guardian?

I'll take this under advisement but will definitely wait for the Myanmar Post and Bhutan Journal to weigh in before passing judgment.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Don't tell me you are still relying on the MSM for news?

The MSM is more concerned about what club did Mrs. Woods used to beat up Tiger, than they are about information.

[Garam_Masala]

3. Most Hilarious post of the day!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[IndianaGreen]

4. Most Americans can't find Afghanistan on a map

Sri Lanka is in Southwest Asia, just like India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. They have a better perspective than we do.

[Garam_Masala]

5. I recall reading Karzai spent time In Indian Universities as a student

I would pay more attention to what the prominent newspapers and politicians
in India are saying about American military expansion in Afghanistan. There
is significant Indian involvement in rebuilding Afghanistan.

I am taking some comfort in knowing how so many Americans were saying similar
things about Iraq during the early war years. I recall the word "Quagmire"
used frequently. But things turned out not so bad in Iraq, with a democratically
elected regime friendly to US in place.

[IndianaGreen]

6. What we got in Iraq is a fundamentalist Shia government influenced by Iran

with a lot of other people pissed at them.

[Garam_Masala]

7. That may be true but Shia will always support Shia

akin to jews in America support Israel and christians support
christians and muslims support muslims.

I will take the current regime in Iraq anyday over Saddam's regime.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Women and girls were better off under Saddam

Everywhere the US has brought its "freedom and democracy" has resulted in a major setback for women's rights.

[Garam_Masala]

9. whoa....

You had no problem with Saddam's thugs raping and torturing women
of dissenters in front of their families?

And how about the mass graves discovered every where in Iraq?

How about Abu Ghraib where people were murdered with brutal torture methods?

Sorry....physical torture of peaceful dissenters is where I draw the line.

[noamnety]

11. It's a lot better now that Saddam isn't doing those things

and the US is, instead.

[IndianaGreen]

15. You are not an Iraqi woman!

I suggest to use google or some other search tool, and see how bad things have gotten for women and girls in Iraq since the US "liberated" them!

[Garam_Masala]

19. if it is worse now that is a shame

Why is it worse? reasons?

[IndianaGreen]

20. You can google as well as I can!

Here is a victim of NATO's bombing:



Let’s rise against the war crimes of US and its fundamentalist lackeys!

RAWA Statement on Massacre of over 150 civilians in Bala Baluk of Farah Province by the U.S.

As the US occupiers continue killing our innocent and sorrowed people without regret, this time they committed yet another horrible crime in Bala Baluk village of Farah Province. On 5th May 2009, the US airstrikes targeted people’s homes, killing more than 150, mostly women and children. This is another war crime but Pentagon shamelessly includes Taliban as the perpetrators too and announces the civilian deaths being only 12!

The so-called ‘new’ strategy of Obama’s administration and the surge of troops in Afghanistan have already dragged our ill-fated people in the danger zone and his 100-day old government proved itself as much more war-mongering than Bush and his only gifts to our people is hiking killings and ever-horrifying oppression. This administration is bombarding our country and tearing our women and children into pieces and from the other side, is lending a friendly hand towards the terrorist Gulbuddinis and Taliban -- the dirty, bloody enemies of our people-- and holding secret negotiations and talks with such brutal groups.

While our grieved people are burying the torn bodies of their loved ones in mass graves; the traitor lackey Said Tayeb Jawad, in his comfort in the USA, tries to dim the war crimes of his masters and about the killings of civilians, shamelessly salts people’s wounds saying, “this is a price we have to pay if we want security and stability in Afghanistan, the region and the world.”!

If his or other ignoble spies like him would lose their children and dear ones like the people of Bala Baluk, would they still become so stone-hearted and remain silent in the face of US/NATO war crimes in Afghanistan?

The only way our people can escape the occupant forces and their obedient servants is to rise against them under the slogans of: “Neither the occupiers! Nor the bestial Taliban and the criminal Northern Alliance; long live a free and democratic Afghanistan!”

http://www.rawa.org/rawa/2009/05/07/lets-rise-against-the-war-crimes-of-us-and-its-fundamentalist-lackeys.html

And then there is "the bravest woman in Afghanistan," Malalai Joya:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/01-3

[Garam_Masala]

21. You pivoted on my question

My question was "why are women worse off now compared to under Saddam regime"

What laws have been enacted to make life worse for women?

Or is it because the shia dominated gov't favors sharia like laws?

[jefferson_dem]

10. Ok. You just jumped the shark with that one.

Wow.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Women could own property, and were free from sharia

No more!

Why don't you do some research yourself before making comments without facts.

[HamdenRice]

12. ROFL! Ultimately, the only reliable source for Afghan news is the Swaziland Post Dispatch! nt

[IndianaGreen]

16. Don't tell me you are still relying on the MSM for news?

I think you need to expand your horizons a bit.

[HamdenRice]

18. Has it occurred to you the Sri Lanka Guardian may be the MSM of Sri Lanka?

Especially considering that Sri Lanka is a militarized regime that just committed massive human rights violations to end the Tamil insurgency?

[Whisp]

13. well who didn't know that Bush failed in Afghanistan?

why are you licking your chops over this?

[ClarkUSA]

17. Um, the Sri Lanka Guardian is not half as credible as The Nepal Times or the Bhutan Post.

:rofl: