A late December NATO attack in eastern Afghanistan reportedly killed nine people–or, according to NATO, nine militants. According to Afghans, nine young civilians. The first round of reporting showed that some outlets, as usual, were willing to take the U.S./NATO line at face value–so long as that line was delivered anonymously, as in the December 28 New York Times:
A senior NATO official with knowledge of the operation said that the raid had been carried out by a joint Afghan-American force and that its target was a group of men who were known Taliban members and smugglers of homemade bombs, which the American and NATO forces call improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
According to the NATO official, nine men were killed. “These were people who had a well-established network, they were IED smugglers and also were responsible for direct attacks on Afghan security and coalition forces in those areas,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the issue.
“When the raid took place they were armed and had material for making IEDs,” the official added.
Senior American military officials cautioned that such episodes tended to be complex and that because of the anger about civilian casualties, Mr. Karzai was under enormous pressure to speak out quickly, sometimes before investigations were complete. NATO will investigate the killings in conjunction with Mr. Karzai’s staff, the official said.
A triumph for propaganda: assurances from “officials” that the raid killed exactly who they say it did, and the reminder that another version of reality may soon emerge from the Afghan side, due to “anger” that their politicians must react to. The Times account added:
But the conflicting accounts and Mr. Karzai’s public statements underlined the tensions over civilian casualties that have become among the most contentious issues between the Afghan president and his international backers, as well as one of the most politically fraught for Afghans.
One has to think that maybe it’s not “conflicting accounts” that bother Afghans. It could be their dead relatives.
“A senior NATO official with knowledge of the operation said that the cessation of breathing on the part of the victims, and the fragmentation of their bodies into teeny little bits, could be a ruse by the Taliban.”
“‘The fact is we can’t be certain whether these persons were cooperating with the enemy. This area is known for conflicting loyalties, and some locals might have placed themselves in harm’s way to score propaganda points for the militants.'”
Occupying forces ALWAYS commit war-crimes.
ALWAYS!
Terror is ALWAYS used as weapon of suppression in such situations.
It’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of how much.
This is simply not deniable, by anyone. The fact that not ALL such troops commit atrocities is irrelevant beside the fact that some ALWAYS do…
Afghanistan is not a country
Afghanistan is not a country. Afghanistan is not a nation. Afghanistan is a string of valleys strung together by a harsh, rugged mountain range. Afghanistan is scattered villages of tribal and familial groups loosely connected by trade, a common language and a common religious tradition. Even in the cities the people congregate into neighborhoods of common tribal, familial and/or religious groups.
If you are not of their village or neighborhood, if you do not speak their language you are a foreigner, an outsider, a stranger. If you are a stranger with a gun you are an enemy. As long as there are foreigners with guns on Afghan soil there will be Afghans to fight them. Many have learned that hard lesson the Persians, the Greeks, the Moghuls, the Mongols, the Chinese, the British, the Soviets and now the Americans. Us!
Military action is a failure of diplomacy. The Afghans will never be defeated by force. The Afghans will never be subdued by force. They must be charmed, cajoled, enticed, courted family by family, tribe by tribe, village by village, marketplace by marketplace, neighborhood by neighborhood. Nation building must start with trust and respect on the local levels. It will only happen by diplomacy.
Perhaps it is not being reported. I am hearing nothing about anyone getting out of their cushy embassy offices and going out to the valleys, villages, marketplaces and neighborhoods. Breaking bread, sitting down over a cup of coffee or tea, to ask the Afghan people what they want for their country. Instead of telling them what we think they should have.
They need roads. Are we building roads? Are they building roads? How many Afghans are employed building those road?
Many Afghans walk, ride donkeys and camels. What is being done to improve the tracks, paths and trails between villages that Afghans have used for millenia until roads are built in those rugged, forbidding mountains.
They need and want electricity. Why are we not contracting with American companies to provide windmills, solar panels and small generating plants that run on biofuels and animal power to supply that need, particularly in their remote mountainous regions and villages. Train Afghans to install, service, repair and run them.
Afghanistan is the perfect laboratory for developing local green alternative energy. Not just for use in Afghanistan, but also for use in the United States and for export to many third world and remote locales.
It will give a major boost to our alternative green energy industry. Give the Afghans the power they need. Provide jobs for Afghanistan and the United States. It will provide alternatives to the poppy production. They can grow profitable cash crops for their biofuel industry, as well as food, in the poppy fields. We can also provide alternative fuel buses and cars so they won’t be dependent on foreign fossil fuel products as are we.
They need education. Let Afghan labor build Schools with materials and support we supply them. Find and train Afghans to teach in them. Train local Afghans to protect their schools and their children.
Find moderate and liberal clerics to serve as alternatives for the fundamentalists, violent, angry male bovine excrement that dominates in many parts of Afghanistan. I don’t know if there is such an animal. I never hear of Islamic clerics anywhere speaking out to denounce the violence and repression from the fundamentalists. However, if moderates can be found they can be employed to teach in the madras’ a more moderate, peaceful Islam.
If this kind of effort is going on I am not hearing any of it in the mainstream media or even in the alternative press and internet. Is it because it is not being reported? OR is it because it is not happening.
The approach I propose does require humility rather than arrogance, diplomacy rather than violence. This so-called ‘christian’ country has never been very big on humility or diplomacy.
~;^}>