Ironically, with the release of 90,000 classified U.S. documents by WikiLeaks, there appears to be a growing chorus of U.S. allies criticizing President Obama for continuing President Bush’s failed Afghan strategy. This editorial from Spain, which has 1,600 troops in the country, laments how the most civilized nations on earth appear to have dispensed with the Geneva Conventions to pursue policies that are leading to defeat.
From Spain’s Cuarto Poder, the editorial says in part:
Spain’s troops in Afghanistan kill fewer bearded and turbaned civilians than our U.S. allies, but on occasion, when they see two civilian-friends on a motorcycle waiting for a NATO convoy to pass, even Spain’s troops fire first because experience indicates that the two could be mujahedeen preparing to drop a bomb under the last vehicle – and it’s better to be safe than sorry. It later turns out they were peaceful farmers, so the detachment’s head of civilian relations manages to get in touch with the families and hands them a fistful of dollars ($12.000 per head) to prevent them from kicking up a fuss.
The 91,000 pages of classified U.S. military material on what’s happening in Afghanistan, posted by Wikileaks, emphasize that Barak Obama’s war in Afghanistan is as dirty as that of his predecessor George W. Bush. Mercenary groups, mass killings of innocent civilians, human rights violations every day, every hour and in every location … It’s as if the Geneva Convention didn’t exist for the armies of the most civilized countries on earth. And that impacts, discredits and adds risk to the Spanish soldiers who try to be irreproachable but don’t always succeed.
One need only read the documents posted by Wikileaks to understand that the scorched earth strategy promoted by Bush has continued under Obama. And what’s worse: after the chase, the Taliban guerrillas have gathered strength in Pakistan and with the support of other insurgent leaders like the Pashtun, Jalaluddin Haqqani, and members of the Shura in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan Province.
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