“Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over GIRoA [the Afghan government], usually as a result of government corruption, ethnic bias and lack of connection with local religious and tribal leaders”.
That is a direct quote from a NATO report. This blog has been telling you for six years that the Afghan government rigged its elections, is enormously corrupt, full of warlords and deeply implicated in the heroin trade. That the “Afghan army” is a tribal construct based on the Northern Alliance, and channels weapons to warlords. That no development is really happening. That the government of Afghanistan is comprised of individuals who make money from war and have no interest in peace.
All this has been at odds with the mainstream media narrative, which consists of embedded journalists and visiting ministers telling us that British troops are bringing civilisation to Afghanistan, roads are being built, markets opened and little girls going to school. The leaking of a candid NATO report on the genuine situation has brought us one day of reporting which jars with the general narrative flow.
Watch the propaganda machine go into top gear and more of the same old lies pouring forth in the next few days.
KUNAR, Afghanistan, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The Taliban in Afghanistan said on Wednesday they would not agree to a U.S. demand for a ceasefire as a condition for peace talks, but would not comment on a U.S. military report that they were set to retake the country when foreign troops left …
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/afghan-taliban-say-will-not-agree-to-peace-talks-ceasefire/
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Please excuse the rush, I’m popping in and out in a hurry …
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I heard a reference to what is supposedly an Afghan expression last night: “The Americans have the watches, but the Taliban have the time”.
Mary, did you see Caroline Lucas at the Stop the war demo in Grosvenor square? I was missing her on the speakers list.
@Passerby
Who said you shouldn’t listen to the stoies of other Afghan’s?
Craig’s original post was that the Afghan government is run by corrupt warlords. – I don’t disagree. In fact isn’t it pretty obvious to most people that this is the case? He quoted a NATO report that Aghan civilians fequently prefer the Taliban to the current government – so the current regime is so bad that some even want to go back to the Taliban.
Aidworker1 added some more information that he/she couldn’t find a single person in Kabul who wanted the Taliban over the current regime. That doesn’t mean everyone in Afghanistan or even Kabul loves the GIRoA nor that the GIRoA derserves any support here. I didn’t say anything to that effect and nor did Aidworker1 on this thread. But it does deserve to stand as valid evidence that not everyone in Afghanistan is clamouring for a return to the Taliban. The fact that Craig dismissed it out of hand seems a little ironic on a blog devoted to exposing the truth.
The Falkland Islanders can sleep safely in their beds tonight.
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Prince William of Wales has arrived for his tour of duty. All is well at
51°45’0″S/59°0’0″W
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Briefing from the FCO/MoD here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16859361
Looks like the Afghan govt was a quick study in American methodology LMAO
ZBC have sent Allan Little down to Port Stanley to propagandize. Probably flew in the same plane as P William.
No Ingo. I don’t think she was there. I noticed that the videos all have the wrong dates in the titles.
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I was looking at this on her blog and think her language and that of Burt is pathetically weak and feeble in view of the crimes the Israels continue to commit. eg ..concerned..urge..deeply unhelpful..worried.. etc etc.
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I like the bit about Gould monitoring the situation.
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Palestinian political prisoners and West Bank demolitions
02 February 2012
I am very concerned by reports about the continuing detention of Palestinian political prisoners by the Israeli Government.
Recent days have seen a spate of arrests of elected Palestinian politicians.
We are also seeing the usual house demolitions and settlement expansions in the West Bank.
Responding yesterday to a Parliamentary Question I posed on the recent demolition of the homes of Bedouins in Anata (West Bank), Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt expressed his own concerns.
He said that the ‘demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank are illegal and deeply unhelpful to efforts to bring a lasting peace to the middle east conflict’.
He also said that the UK Government is worried about Israeli plans to move West Bank Bedouin communities.
It is now encouraging the Israeli Government to ‘comply fully’ with international law, and ‘ensure that any decision reached on the movement of Bedouin communities should be made with their full consent and not result in a forcible transfer’.
The Minister confirmed that officials at the British embassy in Tel Aviv are monitoring the situation closely, and plan to raise the issue of Anata with the Israeli authorities.
More generally, I have written to the Foreign Secretary to urge him to make sure that his support for human rights and peace in the Middle East are backed up by strong action.
In particular, I want him to ensure that the EU-Israel Association Agreement is not upgraded until Israel stops violating international law.
I think it is unacceptable for EU funding to support Israeli companies or organisations operating in settlements or the Occupied Territories in defiance of international law – and hope the Government will support such a position.
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On her twitter she had a reminder not to forget Holocaust Memorial Day. Don’t suppose Nagasaki or Hiroshima anniversaries or any other genocides get similar mentions.
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Her question to Burt
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-02-01a.92955.h&s=speaker%3A24910#g92955.q0
watch the c5 documentary next week (mon or tues 9pm) about 42 commando in helmand.Since it is made by ex-commando film-maker thought it might shed some real light on the goings on in Afghan – boy did it! The honest, laddish banter one would expect progressed into pure vindictiveness and hatred of the Afghans as they sought to draw the ‘dickers’ into the open (taliban obervers). Watching this just took me back to Vietnam nd the ‘S&D’ missions to kill the ‘gooks’ – just a harrowing and demoralising hour of tv which confirmed all my thoughts on this cruel and arrogant occupation.
Mary
I’ve looked through the Stop the War stuff you linked to – and they didn’t seem to want to do anything about the civil war that Assad is waging against his own citizens and Palestinian refugees in Syria.
Guano
I can see why you chose your name given the anti-semitic and otherexcrement that you spout.
One particularly fine example I noted
“The beautiful and totally truthful religion of Islam will prevail in spite of the political machinations of CIA and AlQaida. Taliban is at the centre of that success”
I would actually call this a monumental insult to Islam – since I don’t think that public beheadings and beatings, suppressing women and denying them education and banning such pleasures as kite flying, popular music and television, blowing up Buddhist monuments, making men grow beards and other such perversions favoured by the Taleban actually have anythinh whatsoever to do with beauty or truth – and anyone who does is really just besmirching the name of one of the world’s great religions.
Anon,
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I’m here to help, comfort and guide and you have not grasped the situation in Syria which I explained in an earlier thread. In case you missed my last response to you, I repeat it here:
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I have spent some time investigating Latakia and the city’s impoverished districts of al-Ramel, al-Shaab and Ein Tamra. Al-Ramel is home to a crowded Palestinian refugee camp where many low-income Syrians also live. Reports of shelling from government tanks, anti-aircraft fire against civilians and an off shore bombardment by naval guns was reported by Western media and some Arabic news agencies. Indeed the refugee camp in Al-Ramel was under fire from government forces having been infiltrated by armed terrorist gangs according to the SANA news agency. Does that tactic ring any bells with anyone?
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Sadly Western media has been playing games in its coverage about Syria. For the first few months, that same media insisted (against claims to the contrary by the repressive regime) that the Syrian uprising was peaceful: that is, it was part of the touted “Arab spring.”
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Western media insisted that all claims about armed elements of the opposition were mere fabrications by the regime. Yet, when an opposition “army” was announced, and when news of armed clashes in Homs and other places appeared, there were no explanations in the Western press. There was no attempt to reconcile the claims and the later reportage.
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But what is also curious is that Western media was desperate to deliver propaganda services to the cause of the Syrian National Council (there is opposition in Syria beyond the council, of course). Western media have been mere cheerleaders for the Syrian National Council. (This criticisms also applies to the news media of the Saudi and Qatari ruling dynasties).
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Anon – I agree some atrocities have occurred in Syria; urban warfare is very tricky and civilians are difficult to distinguish from combatants such as armed militia and gangs. Libya however has exposed the West’s modus operandi of divide and rule after NATO intervention ie sanctions, no-fly zones and air bombardment that murder thousands of civilians indescriminately.
The BBC (‘Bullets Boots and Bandages’, BBC4) reports with pride that that four tonnes of salad and fruit are shipped into Camp Bastion every day whilst The Guardian reports that people arrive at food banks and charity soup kitchens in London to get handouts to stave off hunger.
I really can’t cope with the the irony, or is it just me who doesn’t see the funny side?
Mark
Your account of what happened at Latakia is at odds with what even George Galloway says – and is only consistent with that of the Syrian regime and no one else. You will be telling us that the Syrian Government has only introduced secret police in recent years in response to Western provocation and infiltrators and that the Syrian people truly love the Assad dynasty just like those in Iraq loved their Baathist protectors.
Hello Craig–I’ve enjoyed your blog awhile now. I wonder if you’ve visited MK Bhadrakumar’s blog, http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/ where he has several recent posts commenting on recent Afghan events, among others. Perhaps you might get a chance to offer a comment or two regarding his insights.
As for Iran, US/UK Imperial policy has always been and remains Regime Change; but, IMO, the only way to accomplish that is via massive invasion and everlasting occupation, which neither the US/UK/NATO/Israel combined can accomplish. Ergo, US/UK/NATO/Israel Imperial policy is checkmated.
“This blog has been telling you for six years that the Afghan government rigged its elections, is enormously corrupt, full of warlords and deeply implicated in the heroin trade. ”
Wow, where would we be without CM to reveal the obvious.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know if ‘Anon’ has been here before under a different guise/handle.
The link below is to an excellent piece on Afghanistan’s heroin production by Michel Chossudovsky I am by no means saying that opium production was the de facto reason for the Allied Invasion of Afghanistan because I can not absolutely conclude that, but, what I will say is that given the sheer financial size of the heroin trade worldwide and the fact that over 80% of that financial empire comes from product originating from Afghanistan, then obviously there would have been external to Afghanistan some very powerful people reaping in huge amounts of money from it that would have been far from happy with its effective shut-down in 2000 by the Taliban and wanted that pipeline re-opened, life on this planet has always taken a secondary position to that of finance and the finance created by the heroin trade originating in Afghanistan is huge to say the least.
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As far as the piece by Michel Chossudovsky, I do not say that I know for certain everything stated in it is absolutely correct, I am still weighing up its full content myself. But so far the data I have read in it checks out with other sources and it is very thought provoking to say the least.
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http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO404A.html
@Guano, I see you respond to me, but trying to get what you actually want to convey here poses an intellectual challenge for me.
@Passerby, thanks, I couldn’t agree more. Still, western armies do not seem to care and keep pushing for ever higher numbers of Afghan policemen out there, hoping naively these corrupt guys who serve whoever pays more will keep the Taliban power away…
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@Michael, I may not be the best person to answer but since Craig hasn’t replied yet so I will share my guess.
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For US, Uzbekistan is important in two ways. First, as a military transit route to Afghanistan, their outpost in the region. A lot of work has been done to be able to use UZ airspace and land routes to access Afghanistan.
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Two, US is trying – more or less skilfully – to join the Central Asian game for regional influence. Remember that since late 1970s US military doctrine advocated destabilisation of Soviet Union’s southern borders, focusing on Central Asia as the easiest junk to bite. Consequently, during 1990s Russia lost control over a large swath of Central Asia (but this did not mean other big powers gained influence there). After the 2010 events in Kyrgyzstan changed the scene to Putin’s advantage (forthcoming closure of Manas, etc.), and with Tajikistan continuously unstable, unpredictable and unreliable politically, US (with full British support) is seeking to restore balance by swaying Uzbekistan to its side. This has been tried long and has never been easy – Karimov is a skilled player and is very open that UZ needs US less than US needs UZ, as he said it recently to Clinton’s face (jokingly, but this is what he meant).
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Now, my guess is US military supplies to Uzbekistan are thought to be the price for increased US military presence in the country – something Karimov is threatening Russia with in case Putin presses with establishing a CSTO military base near Osh (just outside UZ borders).
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Still, I don’t think Karimov has said his final word on a US base: it is a big game for the Central Asian state, and UZ surely has a long-term vision of its political affiliations. Most probably, US guys take this simply as an American-style agreement: we have dollars, we pay, you give – and so they have now started to fulfil their part of what they think is a deal.
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Let’s see, the next move is in Putin’s hands.