Deteriorated Security
In Afghanistan currently there are 90,000 coalition forces fighting the fanatic Taliban, intent on once again taking over the administration of that perennially war-torn and poverty-stricken country. A nation of people known for their resistance to occupation. And they have had a long acquaintanceship with occupation, centuries on centuries of occupation by foreign troops.
It is said that Afghans have never and will never accommodate themselves to the acceptance of being occupied indefinitely by foreign forces.
The description of 'fierce and proud' most certainly applies to the people of Afghanistan. The description 'weary and miserable' can also be applied to the people of Afghanistan. What people would not be, given their history?
The country is preparing for its second election process, since the ouster of the Taliban from governing the country. During the first election process, the first the country had ever undertaken, people could go out to vote in relative safety. Since that time the insurgency has retaken a larger portion of the country.
How does a conventional army - a coalition of conventional, modern, well-armed armies - battle a rag-tag group of irregular fedayeen, armed with rifles and busy making IEDs to demoralize and kill as many of the foreign invaders as possible? With the use of unmanned drones, robot airborne killing machines unleashing missiles that have an unfortunate tendency to create larger mayhem than intended.
A government that is rife with corruption: "Half of parliament are fundamentalists and warlords and criminals - looters, smugglers - they are all there", according to Kabul University political science professor Wadir Safi. "They must abolish this judicial system, abolish this parliament, abolish this government."
In whom can the people place their trust, the government incapable of defending them against the Taliban, or the Taliban whose growing strength and determination increases their recruits from among the rural population base? The government, in league with foreign armies, cannot create employment, safeguard schools and hospitals, and is complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians through its dependence on the international community.
The propaganda of the Taliban has been extremely successful in pointing out the deaths of civilians - even when they have been killed by the Taliban, attributing those deaths to the foreign military presence - could be prevented, that good Muslim men should be defending their homeland, along with the Taliban. The Taliban, after all, are Afghans, not foreign invaders.
The much-vaunted pull-out of some U.S. troops from Iraq and their deployment in Afghanistan has thus far resulted in nothing much. The additional 21,000 American troops have not resulted in anything comparable to the Iraqi 'surge'. Instead there are greater incidences of IED deaths to British, American and Canadian troops.
The new NATO commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal has asked Washington to forward additional troops, over and above the 21,000 so recently arrived. This is a government that has not been able to win the 'hearts and minds' of its own people. And this is an ideologically-driven religious war that is not being won.
It is said that Afghans have never and will never accommodate themselves to the acceptance of being occupied indefinitely by foreign forces.
The description of 'fierce and proud' most certainly applies to the people of Afghanistan. The description 'weary and miserable' can also be applied to the people of Afghanistan. What people would not be, given their history?
The country is preparing for its second election process, since the ouster of the Taliban from governing the country. During the first election process, the first the country had ever undertaken, people could go out to vote in relative safety. Since that time the insurgency has retaken a larger portion of the country.
How does a conventional army - a coalition of conventional, modern, well-armed armies - battle a rag-tag group of irregular fedayeen, armed with rifles and busy making IEDs to demoralize and kill as many of the foreign invaders as possible? With the use of unmanned drones, robot airborne killing machines unleashing missiles that have an unfortunate tendency to create larger mayhem than intended.
A government that is rife with corruption: "Half of parliament are fundamentalists and warlords and criminals - looters, smugglers - they are all there", according to Kabul University political science professor Wadir Safi. "They must abolish this judicial system, abolish this parliament, abolish this government."
In whom can the people place their trust, the government incapable of defending them against the Taliban, or the Taliban whose growing strength and determination increases their recruits from among the rural population base? The government, in league with foreign armies, cannot create employment, safeguard schools and hospitals, and is complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians through its dependence on the international community.
The propaganda of the Taliban has been extremely successful in pointing out the deaths of civilians - even when they have been killed by the Taliban, attributing those deaths to the foreign military presence - could be prevented, that good Muslim men should be defending their homeland, along with the Taliban. The Taliban, after all, are Afghans, not foreign invaders.
The much-vaunted pull-out of some U.S. troops from Iraq and their deployment in Afghanistan has thus far resulted in nothing much. The additional 21,000 American troops have not resulted in anything comparable to the Iraqi 'surge'. Instead there are greater incidences of IED deaths to British, American and Canadian troops.
The new NATO commander in Afghanistan, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal has asked Washington to forward additional troops, over and above the 21,000 so recently arrived. This is a government that has not been able to win the 'hearts and minds' of its own people. And this is an ideologically-driven religious war that is not being won.
Labels: Conflict, Crisis Politics
posted by Pieface | 8:04 PM
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