Afghanistan War

Sunday, 5 August 2012

Obama - 'I wan't Awlaki' : Death Of A US Citizen

President Barack Obama had personally authorized the killing. “I want Awlaki,” he is said to have told his advisers at one point. “Don’t let up on him.” The President’s bracing words about a fellow American are reported in “Kill or Capture,” a recent and important book on the Obama Administration’s detention and targeted-killing programs, by Daniel Klaidman, a former deputy editor of Newsweek.

With those words attributed to Obama, Klaidman has reported what would appear to be the first instance in American history of a sitting President speaking of his intent to kill a particular U.S. citizen without that citizen having been charged formally with a crime or convicted at trial.

Saturday, 4 August 2012

NATO Retreat And The Lessons Of History

It seems a bit ironic to talk of the lessons of history when they have been so consistently ignored in the Afghan context. But the parallels between NATO's withdrawal and the Soviet retreat in in 1989 are unmissable. Ten years of fighting with the CIA backed mujahaddin, cash-strapped and lacking public support at home, the USSR pulled out. But they continued funding and arming the Afghan government until the USSR itself crumbled. They held out for three years. The resulting civil war lasted from 1992 until the Taliban won in 1996 and so on to the conflict today. Hundreds of thousands died in the Russian occupation/civil war. Afghan society fell apart and most of Kabul was destroyed. The allies who fought the Russians turned on each other in a fratricidal war and some fought against the Taliban. Twenty years later most of the protagonists are still there fighting or 'supporting' NATO/ISAF. Dozens of the former warlords are now governors, ministers, generals. The negotiations which are currently taking place below the radar must also encompass an attempt to avoid another mass civil war on the chaotic (which it will be, despite the spin) rush to the exits by the US and NATO.

Afghanistan profile - Timeline

BBC News - Afghanistan profile - Timeline:

Friday, 3 August 2012

What Meaningless Really Means

Flight Medic Eric Williams posted this on 17th July. Six days before he was killed. This is what it means to die for nothing, not even understanding what you were doing. Insanity. He describes Afghanistan as a 'god forsaken country'. If there ever had been a god, he forsook Afghanistan the day Eric and his friends arrived. LINK

'We collectively have risked it all and put everything on the line to save our fellow man, regardless of nationality, race, religion or sex. I for one will reflect on these experiences for decades to come. And I know my comrades will as well. I cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues. We have felt the sting of losing someone we tried our hardest to save. We have cleaned up the blood and reset our equipment in order to go back out and do it again. These people I work with are some of the most dedicated men and women I have ever met. They come from all walks of life and although different in so many aspects, all come together collectively to accomplish this mission. I’m proud to say that I work with some of the most professional people there are. But now we are going home. Were out of this god forsaken country, but we take with us the weight of a thousand missions. To try to dissect them as best we know how.'