Afghan Farce 147

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The French government has suspended training for Afghan forces after four of their troops were killed by an Afghan soldier under training. Extraordinarily, that makes eight NATO troops killed by their trainees in 2012 already. It is the most extreme example of the complete failure of the occupation to achieve any of its ostensible aims. It is not even achieving any of its hidden aims, other than the channelling of huge amounts of our money to the arms industry.

But do not worry: NATO have come up with a brilliant and effective policy response to this problem. They are suppressing statistics on NATO personnel killed or wounded by Afghan army and police personnel. So that’s alright, then.

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147 thoughts on “Afghan Farce”

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  • glenn_uk

    So let’s get this straight – we complained like hell when the Soviets jammed our broadcasts. We also bombed the Aljezeera offices in Iraq, killed numerous staff, locked more staff up in Guantanamo despite knowing they had nothing to do with the G.W.O.T, and eventually banned the whole station from Iraq. Then we complain about a lack of freedom of the press in dictatorships we don’t approve of.

    When an Official Enemy doesn’t allow our broadcasts, that’s a Bad Thing. When we don’t allow theirs, that’s just as it should be. It’s good to be clear and consistent on such matters.

  • nuid

    They are toning down the rhetoric regarding Iran:
    .
    “Panetta admits Iran not developing nukes”
    {http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/09/panetta-admits-iran-not-developing-nukes/}
    .
    “Israel: No Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program; Barak: Any decision to Strike Iran ‘Far off’.”
    {http://www.juancole.com/2012/01/israel-no-iranian-nuclear-weapons-program-barak-any-decision-to-strike-iran-far-off.html}
    .
    Juan Cole discusses the whys and wherefores at the link above.
    .
    Meanwhile, currency issues and sanctions:
    “Iran and Russia drop dollar for their own currencies in bilateral trade”
    {http://www.anirudhsethireport.com/iran-and-russia-drop-dollar-for-their-own-currencies-in-bilateral-trade/}
    .
    Iran has also replaced the dollar in its oil trade with India, China and Japan. Many in the West think that US sanctions will prove useless – and that Europe is bloody stupid to promise the same.

  • Azra

    Mark Golding : I would love to have Hot Bird dish, not only for Press TV, but also there are other Persian language channels which my hubby would to watch to improve his Farsi! looking forward to the details.

  • nuid

    “When an Official Enemy doesn’t allow our broadcasts, that’s a Bad Thing. When we don’t allow theirs, that’s just as it should be.”
    .
    I think that’s what kills me, the blatant hypocrisy. And that it’s swallowed without comment by the general public, by and large.

  • rwendland

    Craig, on channelling money to the arms industry, have you read this especially gross example, reported by Reuters, on equiping Afghan forces? Summed up by: “We have no clue how to operate the weapons that NATO gives us.”

    One lowlight is the US supplied the Afghans with some $4 million each Stryker armored fighting vehicles. These are computer controlled vehicles, so Afghan “squaddies” are expected to learn to read Latin script, if not English! I’m sure this is nicely profitable for some US manufacturer, but not that useful for the Afghans:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/01/us-afghanistan-training-idUSTRE7A01HN20111101

    “The United States poured in a record amount, near $12 billion between October 2010 and September 2011, to train and equip Afghanistan’s security forces. Almost as much cash, some $11 billion, is planned for the year through September 2012.

    … Another U.S. official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mission was buying up high-tech equipment to satisfy Washington, while more basic needs were ignored.

    The mismatch between skills and high-tech equipment has even prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to make a plea for a focus on sustainable training.”

  • Mary

    O/T The Middletons including Kate are off to the Caribbean for their winter holiday in the sun. Two plods go along for her security. Wills could not make it but will join her later. In the meantime, he and Harry have managed to get away for a weekend’s killing of wildlife on the Duke of Westminster’s estate in Seville. A mere 15,000 hectares.
    .
    http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2007/12/07/the-princes-secret-spanish-playground/
    .
    Kate jets off for Middleton family holiday in the Caribbean… and leaves William at work on chilly Anglesey
    {http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2089525/Kate-Middleton-leaves-Prince-William-Anglesey-jets-Caribbean-family-holiday.html}
    .
    Such austere times.

  • Tony

    The French reaction is just election posturing by Sarkozy. They will continue to do whatever the Americans tell them.

  • Anon

    Craig – you talk as although the only foreign interference in Afghanistan comes from Nato and Russia – this is just not true as the Taleban have been influenced by forms of Islamic fundamentalism that are also quite alien to the Afghans as well. One could probably argue about cause and effect until the cows come home and still not come upwith anything meaningful – but it is still the case that it is best to get all forms of foreign interference out of Afghanistan.

  • Alistair

    Here’s a story that hasn’t been suppressed:

    Jan. 19, 2012 (Reuters) — Violent sex crimes committed by active U.S. Army soldiers have almost doubled over the past five years, due in part to the trauma of war, according to an Army report released on Thursday.

    Reported violent sex crimes increased by 90 percent over the five-year period from 2006 to 2011. There were 2,811 violent felonies in 2011, nearly half of which were violent felony sex crimes. Most were committed in the United States.

    One violent sex crime was committed by a soldier every six hours and 40 minutes in 2011, the Army said

    http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre80j01c-us-army-health-report/

  • wendy

    get the presstv app for your phone or netbook .. it has live streaming of the channel and works just great.
    .
    watched bbcnews and skynews for around 35 mins around 8pm tonite and not a mention of the ofcom decision .. russia today gave the news in 5 minutes
    .
    must be prelude to conflict as another carrier reaches the persian gulf/strait of hormuz .. and israel still has those 9000 usa military deployed in its country.

  • Fedup

    Wendy,
    The back pedalling, says otherwise. PressTV was silenced, as yet another attempt in the attenuation of the truth, that is so hard to come by in the Western Media, these days.
    ,
    How will this suppression reflect in other parts of the world?

  • tigger1

    @Azra
    “I would love to have Hot Bird dish, not only for Press TV, but also there are other Persian language channels which my hubby would to watch to improve his Farsi! looking forward to the details.”

    if you have satellite dish directed for Astra, just move it to Hotbird.
    or change converter to dual satellite (in that case the decoder must have the switch but that is common).
    sometimes the cheap satellite finder – around £5 is sufficient, easier with dedicated compass using the guide klike that http://www.satsig.net/maps/satellite-tv-dish-pointing-uk-ireland.htm
    the only question is if there are FTV (Free To View) channels in Farsi. for scrambled channels you need a card

  • Jives

    NATO denying deaths? How absurd.Following this,ahem,logic,we could have a war,then,whereby nobody ever died(official stats)despite there being millions of grieving relatives and friends??
    .
    Fuckin’ fools.
    .
    Verily it becomes more like Dr.Strangelove by the day.They are just soooo fuckin’ dumb-and that’s what will undo them at end.Just so damn thick.Pardon my French.

  • felix

    Off topic – just noticed that Liam Fox has been busy schmoozing in Canada in late November in a kind of Foreign Secretary role at the Halifax International Security Forum…he looks a bit odd described as a Member of Parliament among all the “cabinet ministers and senior government officials, 4-star generals, justices of supreme courts, legislators, business leaders, journalists, writers, academics, and leaders from prominent think tanks and NGOs.”
    . Perhaps his invite had plopped onto the doormat of Atlantic Bridge sometime before October? “Halifax is kept small to generate an intimate atmosphere and an intense focus where real work can get done.” I’m sure he had time to have a word with Ehud Barak, Amos Gilad, Miriam Ziv and co…

  • Mary

    Thanks Felix. Interesting list of fascists and warmongers. Noticed McCain – Bomb bomb bomb Iran – and Human Rights Watch! there.

    .
    Fox was there in this capacity in 2010
    .
    Liam Fox
    Minister of Defence
    United Kingdom
    .
    but I saw no mention of Werrity. Perhaps he was using an alias.

  • Tony

    ‘£7 million is being spent on a Diamond Jubilee medal to be given to the police, armed forces, emergency services and prison staff. Unbelievable. Overseen by that twit Hunt’
    Rattle a tin for the securocrats.

  • havantaclu

    On a completely different subject – please read this blog. Sue Marsh has been one of the leading figures in the preparation of the Spartacus Report and has nearly killed herself in the process.
    .
    http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/

    .
    She is one helluva lady. Incidentally other members of the Spartacus report team are now in hospital, one in intensive care, because of their activity overwhelming their available strength (Spoonies)

    .
    Please support the sick and disabled in their fight against the government. I’m perhaps biased, as I am the carer for my husband who has been disabled for the last twelve and a half years – but I know from other carers just how badly affected some of their friends/relations are finding themselves, and through no fault of their own.

  • Mary

    Sir John Nott (remember him walking out of a TV interview in a bad temper when Maggie’s war on the Falklands was being carried out?) and Simon Weston, one of the wounded, were both in full flow just now on Sky News putting the case for the continued occupation of the Falklands and talking down an Argentinian academic, Prof Guillermo Makin, a politics professor at Belgrano University in Buenos Aires. It was ‘ya boo sucks we’re the king of the castle, get down you dirty rascal’ stuff from the two British who jeered and interrupted.
    .
    Nott was speaking from his home in Dorset which looked very plush and furnished in that Osborne and Little style beloved of the upper classes. Presumably a camera team and satellite van had been despatched by Sky to Dorset. No expense spared in order to get the message carried.
    .
    Is it not provocative to be sending William of Wales to do a six month stint in Las Malvinas?

    http://securitydiplomacy1.wikidot.com/

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