I shudder at the thought when (maybe in the not too distant future) the inside story of the bloody mess created by the key players in Afghanistan and Iraq appears in public domain. For starters a recent news report: “The Afghan government claims they (can) prove (that) British agents were talking to the Taliban without permission from the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, despite Gordon Brown’s pledge that Britain will not negotiate.
“The British insist President Karzai’s office knew what was going on. But Mr Karzai has expelled two top diplomats amid accusations they were part of a plot to buy-off the insurgents.”
The Independent continues: “Britain planned to build a Taliban training camp for 2,000 fighters in southern Afghanistan, as part of a top-secret deal to make them swap sides, intelligence sources in Kabul have revealed.”
For details please click here…
In another article, Andreas Whittam Smith asks a pertinent quetion: “If the Afghans don’t want us, why should we stay?”
Smith’s article is a must read: “The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, doesn’t think we (British) are doing a good job in his country. In the dangerous area where our troops are deployed we have, apparently, brought only more insecurity. Our decision to remove a brutal and corrupt governor of Helmand province was also a British error. ‘I made the mistake of
listening to them. And when they came in, the Taliban came,’ remarked Mr Karzai…
“If the coalition pulls out, the Afghan government would fall apart, we are told, paving the way for a new al-Qa’ida safe haven in that country. So what? In a recent British trial, it was shown that the men accused of terrorism had done their training in the Lake District (in England). They didn’t need to catch a plane to Kabul.
“According to the Afghanistan Study Group, a prestigious American think tank, the other day: ‘The prospect of again losing significant parts of Afghanistan to the forces of Islamic extremists has moved from the improbable to the possible’.”
As a journalist who has covered the region for nearly three decades, I couldn’t agree more. I have been writing in this blog for almost a year the futility of deploying American, British and NATO soldiers for unlimited period in Afghanistan (or even in Iraq). I had also written that knowing well the fiercely independent nature of the Afghans, the soldiers from the West will have to kill a mind-boggling number of civilians and militants. The continued presence of American and NATO forces is spawning an unending stream of militants.
Here I wish to mention about a recent post by Pakspectator in this blog. “There is a vast chasm between the West and the Pakistan. The West simply doesn’t understand what Pakistan is all about, and why despite so much aid and donations Pakistanis don’t become mellow towards it.
“Americans must understand that this war against terrorism is going nowhere, and it is only resulting in the casualties of innocent people. They simply can’t keep going on in the name of collateral damage.
“The Taliban are operating in the area known as the FATA, the tribal belt between Pak-Afghan borders. In that area there simply is no education, no modern infrastructure, no health-service — nothing. Instead of insisting on sending US troops in that area, the US should insist on sending US-facilitated computers, schools, hospitals and industrial units in that area. That will end the war and this scourge of terrorism within a year.”
But who wants to end terrorism? Merchants of arms in the Western countries who feed on terrorism and wars? If there is peace who will buy arms? If there is peace how will the powerful politicians line up their pockets from commissions offered by the rich arms-sellers? For more on this please click here… And here…
By the way who is the enemy in this so-called war-on-terror? President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan says: “Al-Qaeda’s presence in Pakistan has been so reduced that it doesn’t matter much that Osama has not been captured.” President George W. Bush also shares a similar view.
And the world thought that in this six-year-old war on terror these two “saviours of humanity” were sacrificing brave American and NATO soldiers to bring to justice Osama and his band of “criminals”!!! One wonders who excatly are the criminals!!!
In this scenario who would listen to a former CIA official who has his views on ending terrorism…pl click here….
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.