Afghan Democracy Update

Afghanistan should have been nuked pt MCXXXVIII

"KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban on Sunday ordered their first public executions by stoning since their fall from power nine years ago, killing a young couple who had eloped, according to Afghan officials and a witness. ...

Mr. Khan estimated that about 200 villagers participated in the executions, including Khayyam’s father and brother, and Siddiqa’s brother, as well as other relatives ...

“People were very happy seeing this,” Mr. Khan maintained, saying the crowd was festive and cheered during the stoning. ..."

Always remember, folks, NATO troops are dying and your taxes are paying to bring the light of civilization to the Afs, a fool's errand since Alexander.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17stoning.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=stoning&st=cse

Its That Pakistan, Right?

There's only the one, isn't there?

That would be the Pakistan which is "supporting the Taliban with training, cash and sanctuary".

That would be the Pakistan where 9/11 was celebrated in the streets.

That Pakistan.

So far, Fearless Leader Harpo has pledged 31 million of our dollars to people who are helping kill NATO soldiers in Afghastlystan. Taliban Jack and Count Iggy Wormtongue don't figure that's enuff even.
Even by canerdian standards, this is either epic dhimmitude, epic stupidity or a special blend of both.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's high commissioner wants everyone to forget about the Taliban and buy into the "Moderate Muslims^™" BS.
"He also said the government of Pakistan is "fully focused and able to reach out to its own people."

Good, let the government of Pakistan "reach out" and take care of its own.
The rest of us can reach out to the PMO

pm@pm.gc.ca

and tell them to let Pakistan know the check is in the mail.

Poetic Justice At Work

"... 'tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petard ..."

Khadija Abdul Qahaar, formerly Bev Giesbrecht, a self-described "level-headed, capable woman" reacted to 9/11 by channeling her hatred of George Bush into a novel direction: she converted to Islam, changed her name and set about, as her website, "Jihad Unspun" puts it: "informing the public about some of the things (she) had come to know and to give voice to the other side of war on “terrorism”."

Well, she's in a great position to hear her Taliban heros' "voice" nowadays, having so far spent about a year as their prisoner, guest, having been grabbed, invited round while doing a documentary for, of course, Al-Jazeera.

Oddly enuff, Khadija seems to have fallen victim to the common, Bush-induced delusion that her hosts are to be feared. Certainly, she looked and sounded pretty shaky in her recent video appearance, almost as if she was afraid of the two victims of American foreign policy standing by her with automatic weapons.

She even claimed to have been "kidnapped" by the Taliban, ridiculous of course, as that's the sort of thing terrorists do; and Bev, I mean, Khadija knows better.
Just read her website.

Foreign Affairs says they're "pursuing all appropriate channels" to assist in her "release". Meanwhile, The Canadian Association of Journalists is urging Harpo to secure her "release".

That's just silly of course, its just buying into the "war on terror" any canerdian 'journalist' worth their salt sees through all the time.
I'm hoping you'll join your correspondent in urging Ottawa to let the Taliban take care of their own.
You can drop the minister a line at Lawrence.cannon@international.gc.ca

Saving the Afghans From Themselves Update

In provinces just south of Kabul, the Taliban have a shadow government that polices roads and runs courts and schools.

The Christian Science Monitor's intrepid Anand Gopal reports on the Taliban's popularity in Afdumpistan.

"Some Afghans live under Taliban rule – and prefer it

Porak, Afghanistan -
After a gang of thieves had continually terrorized an Afghan neighborhood near here months ago, locals decided they'd had enough. "We complained several times to the government and even showed them where the thieves lived," says Ahmad, who goes by one name.

But the bandits continued to operate freely. So the villagers turned to the Taliban. The militants' parallel government here in Logar Province – less than 40 miles from Kabul, the capital – tried and convicted the men, tarred their faces, paraded them around, and threatened to chop off their hands if they were caught stealing in the future. The thieves never bothered the locals again.

In several provinces close to Kabul, the government's presence is vanishing or already nonexistent, residents say. In its place, a more effective – and brutal – Taliban shadow government is spreading and winning local support.

"The police are just for show," one local says. "The Taliban are the real power here." ...

Villagers say that almost every household in Logar Province has Taliban fighters. ...

As nightfall approaches, Taliban fighters slowly emerge from the houses and surrounding hillsides, some lugging rocket-propelled grenade launchers over their shoulders, ready to begin a night's work. The guerrillas set up checkpoints along Logar Province's central highway, stopping trucks and taxis to check IDs. ...

The Taliban now have a strong presence in all seven of Logar's districts, including outright control of four of them, locals say. "In these districts the Taliban patrol openly in the daytime and there is no government presence at all," ...

In areas under their control, the Taliban has set up their own government, complete with police chiefs, judges, and even education committees.

An Islamic scholar heads the judicial committee of each district under Taliban control and usually appoints two judges to try cases using a strict interpretation of sharia law, according to locals and Taliban members. "We prefer these courts to the government courts," says Fazel Wali of Ghazni city, an NGO worker. ...

Abdul Hakim, a Taliban "Emir of Education and Culture" in Ghazni Province, says his group checks all schoolbooks to ensure that they adhere to their version of sharia law. "We want to ensure that our youth are trained in Islamic education," he explains. "First, they should learn sharia law and religious studies. Then comes science and other subjects.... But we don't burn or close down schools if they are in accord with Islam." ...

However, locals say that the number of schools in Taliban-controlled territory is dwindling fast. Of the 1,100 schools operating three years ago in Ghazni, only 100 are left, according to the Ministry of Education. Almost no girls' schools remain, except nearly a dozen in the government-controlled provincial center.

The group also brings its austere interpretation of Islam to the areas they control, banning nonreligious music and flashy wedding parties. In Logar, guards at Taliban checkpoints regularly stop vehicles and beat drivers playing music. ..."

So, again I ask, all these NATO troops have lost their lives, all these families are suffering for what?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1015/p01s01-wosc.html?page=1

And Its 1 .. 2.. 3.. What Are We Fightin' For?

Afghan "President" Hamid Karzai is trying to make a deal with the Taliban through his brother Qayoun [right]

The next step in saving the Afghans from themselves apparently takes the form of trying to work out a deal with the Taliban. So all these NATO troops have died to accomplish exactly what? Decreasing the representation of the Taliban in the "government" (joke that it is) of Afdumpistan?

"Afghan president offers Taliban a role in governing country

President Hamid Karzai has offered Taliban leaders the possibility of positions in his government if they agree to a peace deal which could bring fighting to an end.

By Nick Meo in Kabul
Last Updated: 7:03PM BST 11 Oct 2008

The offer was made through his brother Qayoun at a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia of which Britain was aware.

Britain has been encouraging the Kabul government to talk to its Taliban enemies for more than two years and the Americans are thought to be coming round to the idea of a deal which would end the costly war in Afghanistan.

But The Sunday Telegraph has learned that the allies would insist that the Taliban would have to split with al-Qaeda and provide information on international terrorists in Pakistan and Afghanistan as the price of a deal. ..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3179534/Afghan-president-offers-Taliban-a-role-in-governing-country.html

Yeah, lottsa luck with that.

How Goes the Afghan War?

A fair question, especially in the wake of this latest debacle, the attempted assassination of Karzai and the reaction of the Afghan troops and police on hand, ie: fleeing for their lives (see pic above.)

To judge by this analysis from Debka.com (who know their eggs), the answer to "How goes the Afghan war?" must be not well at all. Particularly troubling is the obvious inside help that must have been lent, which is so reminiscent of the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat by Egyptian Jhad Islami, who later formed al Qaeda with bin Laden.

It seems to me that if the "insurgents" can strike like this at the heart of the Afghan government in the heart of the capital, what can we make of talk of "progress" being made elsewhere? Kandahar is clearly a mess, they couldn't even pull off a USO show on base there without it coming under mortar fire.

The Australian PM is preparing Australians for a tough 2008 as his "Army chiefs warn that Afghanistan is entering its so-called fighting period, when the melting of winter snow heralds an increase in activity by Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists."

Great, just great. Those melting snows can also bring another influx of Chinese Muslim fighters into Afghanistan of the kind that's been going on since at least 2001. These are "entering Afghanistan along the ancient Krakoram Road to the Afghan-Pakistani border, through the Kulik Pass of Little Pamir, which is situated in one of the highest and most remote regions of the world."

Spell along with Ol' Uncle Dave now, kiddies: Q-U-A-G-M-I-R-E.