Mainstream news about children in Afghanistan being bought and sold.Some children go to better off familys some end up as body parts or slavery.
What is this war about and why are soldiers and civilians being killed for no inprovement in their society?
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No foreign power has ever achieved permanent change in Afghanistan. The Russians threw men, material and manpower at the "problem" and lost most of it. The British first suffered massive a setback there in 1841.
We have been there nearly 10 years this time and the day we leave all we shall have to show for it is a vast bill and 400+ dead service personnel. We must not forget the much larger number of Afghan civilians who have diesd, many of them in military crossfire. It has been ill judged and undermanned since day 1.
When we leave there will still be a corrupt and venal Government, incompetent and unreliable Afghan military and police, grinding poverty and massive discrimination against women plus female children denied even a basic education. A poor outcome for all concerned
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSGPExokiK4
I agree Meldrew I listened to a speech by Texas Senator Ron Paul who made good points.
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The point was to ensure Afganistan wasn't a Taliban/AQ savehaven. There may have been other objectives along the way, but that was the one above all others from the beginning.
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Major failure there then. Great swathes of Afghanistan are totally controlled, run and ruled by Taliban; some people seem to prefer the evil they know to the influence of the infidel invaders.
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Its also about hegemony and imperialism though - look who is to the left and right of Afghanistan.
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Bit OTT there Meldrew, their infulence isn't that strong. Some people will but most don't.
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I agree but once we and other Allies have cut our losses and left the some will become the many and things will go back to where they were.
"In many areas here and the rest of the north, the Taliban have effectively supplanted the official authorities, running local administrations and courts, and conscripting recruits.
"Day by day, the Taliban are advancing into new districts," said provincial council chief Mohammad Rasoul Mohseni of Baghlan.
Such advances challenge the coalition strategy that assumes Taliban losses in its southern heartland would undermine the entire insurgency, driving the militants to pursue peace on terms acceptable to the West."
Full Wall Street Journal comment here
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554144010132862.html
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>> driving the militants to pursue peace on terms acceptable to the West<<
I prefer to use the term 'freedom fighters'.
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>> I prefer to use the term 'freedom fighters'.
>>
I'd be one of those if foreign soldiers invaded my country and set about regime change.
Wouldn't be any negotiation either.
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IF I have got it right we are there to prevent regime change! We are supporting Karzai and his corrupt and incompetent regime. $925 million missing for the Central Bank in unsecured loans to his cronies and backers, including his brother.
www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/world/asia/30kabul.html
10 years ago the infamous "Dr" John Reid said we are going there to improve the infra-structure and we would be in and out in 3 years and happy to leave without a shot being fired! Hmm! That plan hasn't worked too well, so far.
If the Taliban are making moves in the North and their influence is moving South how will that be checked or reversed when NATO forces withdraw? A US general has publicly stated that the Afghans will be able to manage their own security by the end of 2014. We shall see!
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>> I agree but once we and other Allies have cut our losses and left the
>> some will become the many and things will go back to where they were.
Well we'll have to wait and see on that, but I'm not so sure it will go back.
>> Such advances challenge the coalition strategy that assumes Taliban losses in its southern heartland would
>> undermine the entire insurgency, driving the militants to pursue peace on terms acceptable to the
>> West."
>>
There will be ups and downs, but at some point they will come to the table. Although they are one of the main insurgent groups there are quite a few others, plus a lot of criminal gangs.
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Rich and Poor in Afghanistan. - Meldrew
