Greetings from Afghanistan. I arrived here now almost a week ago and there is so much to share about this experience that it's hard to know where to start. I was immediately struck by the contrast between the incredible beauty of the landscape here and what humans have managed to do to this little piece of the Earth. On the flight in to Kabul International Airport, you have stunning views from the plane of the Hindu Kush mountains that surround the city.
Once you land, however, you are quickly made aware that something is terribly wrong. Rather than the usual airport scene, buzzing with tourists and commercial flights, you see UN helicopters, military aircraft and surprisingly few people.
After entering the dilapidated airport, which is tiny for Kabul's rapidly growing population, I had to wait only several minutes before seeing my first AK-47. Little did I know how common they are in this city. Seemingly every hotel that caters to foreigners, every government building, many banks and other important building have at least one Afghan in camo with a menacing weapon guarding the entrance. Razor wire is everywhere. In many ways, the city has the feel of a prison.
The poor air quality is also immediately apparent. There is so much dust in the air that there is almost a permanent haze over the city. When you are in a car navigating the chaotic roads, it at times looks like you are driving through a cloud or thick fog, but it's just the dust. This is dangerous for me given that I have cystic fibrosis, but it is deadly for Afghans that have to breathe this air every day. In fact, earlier this month, Afghan authorities announced that 3,000 people die in Kabul every year because of the dust and smog. I wouldn't be surprised if that was a gross underestimate.
One thing I haven't seen is the American military, which must be keeping a low profile in the city proper. Yesterday, on our way to a meeting with the Afghan Women's Network, Brian Terrell, one of our delegation members, did say that he saw a US military convoy pass by, but I missed it.
While Kabul is apparently fairly safe at the moment -- the new US National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan refers to the city as one of the "inkspots" where there is relative security -- fighting is raging in many other parts of the country, particularly the south and east. On the day that I arrived in Afghanistan, for example, the AP reported that "a car bomb exploded outside a police headquarters in Kandahar, wounding at least six people and blowing out the windows of buildings up to a mile (a kilometer and a half) away," and that 500 people in Paktia gathered, "shouting 'Death to Americans!' amid local reports that a NATO operation killed seven members of a private security company." Reading headlines like these from my comfortable apartment in Brooklyn would upset me, but reading them in Kabul is a very different experience. It isn't just news from some place half a world away, but from right out my window.
Now that I'm following the news on the war more closely, I realize that violence like this or worse is a daily occurrence in Afghanistan, even though the mainstream media rarely highlights these tragic stories. I'm sure the lack of attention that these regular bombings and shootings receive is, in part, exactly because they are so common.
As President Obama argues that we are on the right track in Afghanistan, the truth is that there is more violence and death here than at any point since the US invasion. The surge in US troops in recent months has led to more soldiers, more Afghan civilians and more humanitarian workers being killed this year than any year to date. How this equates with progress is beyond me.
This article first appeared on Waging Nonviolence.
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It is progress for Zionist bankers who put Americans and westerners Tax payers in debt for ever, isn't it?
This is a zero sum game, people of Afghanistan, Europe, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc lose and some elite Zionists win.
The moment western population understand the new colonialism are not in their favour and revolt against their rulers and elites, the world will be free from this new type of slavery, both in west and east.
Stalin had developed an interesting new theory: that resistance to socialism increases as its successes mount, because its foes resist with greater desperation as they contemplate their final defeat. Thus any problem in the Soviet Union could be defined as an example of enemy action, and enemy action could be defined as evidence of progress. “
http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2064-starved-of-truth-the-assonance-of-atrocity-in-the-afghan-war-qreviewq.html
the drones need to stop.. if the US values the lives of it's soldiers and wants an end to this war.. then the drone attack must stop... they are only fueling hatred and nothing else in the Tribesman... and beleive me, by the time they are 15 they are excellent shots... this anger and hatred could cost US the war....
President Barack Obama says the strategy of the United States and its partners in Afghanistan is making progress in lessening the powers of al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's a goal he says the US military and coalition forces are achieving. http://www.newslook.com/videos/275668-obama-notes-progress-in-afghanistan-as-white-house-picketed?autoplay=true