What Afghan Civilians Are Doing Near Fuel Tankers
The link to the Guardian article does not work in my post, although the link on Memeorandum worked, and I double-checked that I had pasted it in right. I guess you’ll have to take my word that the article exists — or you can click on the link from Memeorandum.
A few days ago, I wrote a post about the NATO-U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that was ordered on the basis of one informant. At that time, at least one reader wondered what Afghan civilians were doing at the site of a fuel tanker, anyway, and concluded that they had no business being there. I confess that I didn’t know what they were doing there, either — I just didn’t jump to the conclusion that there was no good reason. Well, today, an article published in The (UK) Guardian puts this mystery to rest (emphasis mine):
At first light last Friday, in the Chardarah district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, the villagers gathered around the twisted wreckage of two fuel tankers that had been hit by a Nato airstrike. They picked their way through a heap of almost a hundred charred bodies and mangled limbs which were mixed with ash, mud and the melted plastic of jerry cans, looking for their brothers, sons and cousins. They called out their names but received no answers. By this time, everyone was dead.
What followed is one of the more macabre scenes of this or any war. The grief-stricken relatives began to argue and fight over the remains of the men and boys who a few hours earlier had greedily sought the tanker’s fuel. Poor people in one of the world’s poorest countries, they had been trying to hoard as much as they could for the coming winter.
“We didn’t recognise any of the dead when we arrived,” said Omar Khan, the turbaned village chief of Eissa Khail. “It was like a chemical bomb had gone off, everything was burned. The bodies were like this,” he brought his two hands together, his fingers curling like claws. “There were like burned tree logs, like charcoal.
“The villagers were fighting over the corpses. People were saying this is my brother, this is my cousin, and no one could identify anyone.”
I already knew that Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries. I also knew that winters in Afghanistan are brutally cold. I just didn’t make the mental connection from those realities to the presence of Afghan civilians around a fuel tanker. It didn’t occur to me why they might have been there. That is, in part, because, as an American I have the luxury of not knowing and not being able to imagine what it’s like to have no fuel or not enough fuel when it’s cold — very cold — outside.
It strikes me as ironic, to say the least, that it’s so easy for us to say that Afghan civilians should not have been standing underneath a U.S. fighter pilot when he wanted to drop a bomb, when one of the reasons advanced for why we are in Afghanistan, and why we must stay there for now, is that we “liberated” this long-suffering people and still need to protect them from the evils of the resurging Taliban.
If the United States actually, really does care so deeply for the well-being of the Afghan people, then shouldn’t it be incumbent upon Americans to make at least a good faith effort to understand the conditions of daily life in Afghanistan?
10 Responses to “What Afghan Civilians Are Doing Near Fuel Tankers”
Life sucks when you tolerate those who believe that a 13 year old girl should be gang raped by the village for holding hands with a boy. Afganistan is a poor country in large part due to these Taliban who frown upon education and modern ways and the unwillingness of many to fight against it.
Well I won't make the Tory association. I won't even make the Nazi association. I will say that I have seen a heck-of-a-lot of war and I find it sickening, evil, and, nine times out of ten unnecessary. Innocent people getting killed, by accident or not, is a norm not an exception in war. People everywhere, especially in third world nations do what they think they have to do to survive even without war. Things get much tougher with war.
Tribalism keeps people backward in Afghanistan as it does in much of the world. Because of tribalism, war has existed in Afghanistan as a constant long before the U.S. or Russia invaded. War and division is practically a way of life because of tribalism and the warlords that effect the tribal animosities. The only effective counter for tribalism is a strong central government. In nearly all circumstances, in order to bring a strong central government to power, war must occur.
So it’s a catch 22 within a catch 22. Innocent people will die in in order to have a war to protect innocent people from lesser wars that already exist. The whole business is disgusting to me and I glorify none of it. The hypocrisy is that we cry big tears for our soldiers that are sacrificed, and we should, but we overlook or simply ignore the innocent people they and the enemy have slaughtered in the process of fighting each other.
Civilians died when we bombed the Nazis too, does that mean we should have stopped bombing, and let Hitler continue to massacre Jews?
We did let Hitler continue to massacre Jews. The bombing of German cities was not intended to save Jews, and it didn't.
Why don't you think about that long and hard.
Oh, I have. I have thought, and read, quite a bit about the Holocaust. Remember, my grandmother and three-quarters of my father's extended family were murdered by Hitler and the Nazi regime.
And you? How do you come by your knowledge of the Nazi extermination of European Jewry? Personal or historical interest?
I am not going to criticize any of the commenters who have preceded me.
I just want to quote this from Kathy's post, and then just make a personal comment.
“They picked their way through a heap of almost a hundred charred bodies and mangled limbs which were mixed with ash, mud and the melted plastic of jerry cans, looking for their brothers, sons and cousins. They called out their names but received no answers. By this time, everyone was dead.”
Without placing any blame, I do shed tears not only for the children who obvioulsy died in a horrific way, but also for the women, and, yes, also for the unarmend civilian men who were incinerated.
Most of the Afghan people abhor the Taliban and AlQaeda, and most of them do not “harbor them.”
Those who do, do it because they are intimidated, frightened, coerced, forced into doing so in the most brutal and inhumane manner and, in my opinion they do not deserve such a horrific death.
Perhaps, the attack on the tankers was tactically necessary, but we can still regret the civilian casuaties. I believe we are still Americans when it comes to that.
Ummm… yes Kathy it did. Those bombings crioppled the Nazi war machine and lead to a swifter victory that did manage to save other Jews who would have died if the war was prolonged further due to not bombing.
I can't remember what I did not know, you have my condolences.
Both actually. I've long been a student of History in many areas, I think knowledge is power. I also see a study of history as an lesson in ethics. Lets face it warfare is a horrible thing, but sometimes shying away from it is even more horrible. The Nazis just like Al Queda and the Taliban are evidence of that.
Now I notice you skipped over one of my questions Kathy, perhaps you simply forgot to answer so I will ask it again:
Would you have had the allies cancel a bombing run based on information of where Hitler was during WWII to spare nearby civilians Kathy? or would you have bombed the hell out of the area and tried to kill that monster?
I await your answer.
I think thats a healthy perspective, certainly regret for civilian deaths of non Taliban supporters applies here I doubt all were supporters of that regime who died, but blame of the US for is actions is another thing altogether. I regret civilians died when we dropped atomic bombs on Japan, but i do not regret that we did, I regret that many innocents were killed when we bombs the Nazis, but I do not regret that we bombed that inhumane regime. War has a cost, a terrible, terrible cost, but sometimes the cost not to engage is greater.
Yeah well I don't think we “regret it” enough. That’s why I consider it an unhealthy perspective.
I think “we” are more dedicated to “winning” rather than solving any problems.
Winning in Afghanistan will not make Islamic fundamentalism or even Al-Quieda go away. Probably not even the Taliban either.
Forget Afganistan, we just hit Pakistani with something far worse:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/u_s_conde…
I am sorry, Leonidas. But trying to make light of a tragedy is just plain tasteless, at best–as is trying to rationalize calling President Obama a child molester.
Being a new blogger, I would like to tell you that you have given me much knowledge about it. Thanks for everything.
regards
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