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Afghanistan: Ten years of tragedy

Does the US have incompetent, misguided military planners, asks Ramzy Baroud*
In July 2002, US planes bombed an Afghan wedding in the small village of Deh Rawud. Located to the north of Kandahar, the village seemed fortified by the region's many mountains. For a few hours, its people thought they were safe from a war they had never invited. They celebrated, and as customs go, fired intermittently into the air.

The joyous occasion however, turned into an orgy of blood that will define the collective memory of Deh Rawud for generations.

It was reported that the US air force used a B-52 bomber and an AC-130 helicopter gunship in a battle against imagined terrorists. According to Afghan authorities, 40 people were killed and 100 wounded. Expectedly, the US military refused to apologise.

The bombing of Deh Rawud was a microcosm of the war and equally lethal occupation that followed. While Al-Qaeda was not an imagined enemy, the invasion and destruction of Afghanistan was a morally repugnant and self-contradictory response to terrorism.

The war remains repulsive ten years after the US began attacking the poorest country on earth. This latest crime against humanity in Afghanistan is a continuation of a trend that has spanned decades. Unfortunate Afghanistan was designated a pawn in a Great Game between powerful contenders vying for strategic control and easy access to natural resources. Throughout history, Afghanistan has been brutalised simply because of its geographical location.

The people of Afghanistan should not expect an apology for the war either. "The United States invaded Afghanistan to crush an Al-Qaeda base of operations whose leader, Osama bin Laden, oversaw the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- and to make sure Afghanistan would not be a haven for Muslim terrorists to plot against the West," wrote Carmen Gentile and Jim Michaels in USA Today. Such justification has permeated mainstream media like a mantra.................>>>>.......................>>>>.................http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1068/op9.htm

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U.S. abandons consulate site in Afghanistan, citing security risks
By Ernesto Londoño, Published: May 5

After signing a 10-year lease and spending more than $80 million on a site envisioned as the United States’ diplomatic hub in northern Afghanistan, American officials say they have abandoned their plans, deeming the location for the proposed compound too dangerous.

Eager to raise an American flag and open a consulate in a bustling downtown district of the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials in 2009 sought waivers to stringent State Department building rules and overlooked significant security problems at the site, documents show. The problems included relying on local building techniques that made the compound vulnerable to a car bombing, according to an assessment by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul that was obtained by The Washington Post.

The decision to give up on the site is the clearest sign to date that, as the U.S.-led military coalition starts to draw down troops amid mounting security concerns, American diplomats are being forced to reassess how to safely keep a viable presence in Afghanistan. The plan for the Mazar-e Sharif consulate, as laid out in a previously undisclosed diplomatic memorandum, is a cautionary tale of wishful thinking, poor planning and the type of stark choices the U.S. government will have to make in coming years as it tries to wind down its role in the war......................>>>>................................>>>>...............................http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....IQA9ZkD4T_story.html

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Americans tune out Afghan war as fighting rages on
Aug 21, 3:56 PM (ET)
By DEB RIECHMANN


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - It was once President Barack Obama's "war of necessity." Now, it's America's forgotten war.
The Afghan conflict generates barely a whisper on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. It's not a hot topic at the office water cooler or in the halls of Congress - even though more than 80,000 American troops are still fighting here and dying at a rate of one a day.
Americans show more interest in the economy and taxes than the latest suicide bombings in a different, distant land. They're more tuned in to the political ad war playing out on television than the deadly fight still raging against the Taliban. Earlier this month, protesters at the Iowa State Fair chanted "Stop the war!" They were referring to one purportedly being waged against the middle class.
By the time voters go to the polls Nov. 6 to choose between Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the war will be in its 12th year. For most Americans, that's long enough......................>>>>...................>>>......................http://apnews.myway.com/article/20120821/DA0PUG0O1.html

That's because the lame stream media is walking in lock step with the government and it is never reported in the news. And if itis.......it's just a blurb.

The real war is on American women.  Who care about Afghanistan...AIDS infected Republicans wanna rape women and force them to have their babies.