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Posted by Fawad Mir in Foolish Wars of Foolish Nations on October 16th, 2016
Fifteen years ago this week, the US launched the longest war in its history: the invasion and occupation of remote Afghanistan. Neighboring Pakistan was forced to facilitate the American invasion or ‘be bombed back to the stone age.’
America was furious after the bloody 9/11 attacks. The Bush administration had been caught sleeping on guard duty. Many Americans believed 9/11 was an inside job by pro-war neocons.
Afghanistan was picked as the target of US vengeance even though the 9/11 attacks were hatched (if in fact done from abroad) in Germany and Spain. The suicide attackers made clear their kamikaze mission was to punish the US for ‘occupying’ the holy land of Saudi Arabia, and for Washington’s open-ended support of Israel in its occupation of Palestine.
This rational was quickly obscured by the Bush administration that claimed the 9/11 attackers, most of whom were Saudis, were motivated by hatred of American ‘values’ and ‘freedoms.’ This nonsense planted the seeds of the rising tide of Islamophobia that we see today and the faux ‘war on terror.’
An anti-communist jihadi, Osama bin Laden, was inflated and demonized into America’s Great Satan. The supposed ‘terrorist training camps’ in Afghanistan were, as I saw with my eyes, camps where Pakistani intelligence trained jihadis to fight in India-occupied Kashmir.
Afghanistan, remote, bleak and mountainous, was rightly known as ‘the graveyard of empires.’ These included Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Timur, the Moguls and Sikhs. The British Empire invaded Afghanistan three times in the 19th century. The Soviet Union, world’s greatest land power, invaded in 1979, seeking a corridor to the Arabian Sea and Gulf.
All were defeated by the fierce Pashtun warrior tribes of the Hindu Kush. But the fool George W. Bush rushed in where angels feared to tread, in a futile attempt to conquer an unconquerable people for whom war was their favorite pastime. I was with the Afghan mujahidin when fighting the Soviet occupation in the 1980’s, and again the newly-formed Taliban in the early 1990’s. As I wrote in my book on this subject, ‘War at the Top of the World,’ the Pashtun warriors were the bravest men I’d ever seen. They had only ancient weapons but possessed boundless courage.
During the 2001 US invasion, the Americans allied themselves to the heroin and opium-dealing Tajik Northern Alliance, to former Communist allies of the Soviets, and to the northern Uzbeks, blood foes of the Pashtun and former Soviet Communist allies.
Taliban, which had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, had shut down 90% of Afghanistan’s heroin and opium trade. The US-allied Northern Alliance restored it, making Afghanistan again the world’s leading supplier of heroin and opium. US occupation forces, backed by immense tactical airpower, allied themselves with the most criminal elements in Afghanistan and installed a puppet regime of CIA assets. The old Communist secret police, notorious for their record of torture and atrocities, was kept in power by CIA to fight Taliban.
Last week, Washington’s Special Inspector General for Afghan Relief (SIGAR) issued a totally damning report showing how mass corruption, bribery, payoffs and drug money had fatally undermined US efforts to build a viable Afghan society.
What’s more, without 24/7 US air cover, Washington’s yes-men in Kabul would be quickly swept away. The Afghan Army and police have no loyalty to the regime; they fight only for the Yankee dollar. Like Baghdad, Kabul is a US-guarded island in a sea of animosity.
A report by Global Research has estimated the 15-year Afghan War and the Iraq War had cost the US $6 trillion. Small wonder when gasoline trucked up to Afghanistan from Pakistan’s coast it costs the Pentagon $400 per gallon. Some estimates put the war cost at $33,000 per citizen. But Americans do not pay this cost through a special war tax, as it should be. Bush ordered the total costs of the Iraq and Afghan wars be concealed in the national debt.
Officially, 2,216 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan and 20,049 were seriously wounded. Some 1,173 US mercenaries have also been killed. Large numbers of US financed mercenaries still remain in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Noble Peace Prize winner Barack Obama promised to withdraw nearly all US troops from Afghanistan by 2016. Instead, more US troops are on the way to protect the Kabul puppet regime from its own people. Taliban and its dozen-odd allied resistance movements (‘terrorists’ in Pentagon speak faithfully parroted by the US media) are steadily gaining territory and followers.
Last week, the US dragooned NATO and other satrap states to a ‘voluntary’ donor conference for Afghanistan where they had to cough up another $15.2 billion and likely send some more troops to this hopeless conflict. Washington cannot bear to admit defeat by tiny Afghanistan or see this strategic nation fall into China’s sphere.
Ominously, the US is encouraging India to play a much larger role in Afghanistan, thus planting the seeds of a dangerous Pakistani-Indian-Chinese confrontation there.
There was no mention of the 800-lb gorilla in the conference room: Afghanistan’s role as the world’s, by now, largest heroin/opium/morphine producer – all under the proud auspices of the United States government. The new US president will inherit this embarrassing problem.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2016
Posted by Dr. Salman in CURRENT EVENTS on October 15th, 2016
ISLAMABAD, 15 Oct 16: Passing Out Parade of PMA Graduate Course 35th, Technical Graduate Course 28th and Integrated Course 53rd was held at Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul today. Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah graced the ceremony as Chief Guest. On arrival the Chief Guest was received by Major General Nadeem Raza, Commandant Pakistan Military.
While congratulating the cadets on achieving this distinguished milestone Chief Guest Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah said that excellent standard of today’s’ Parade and the impeccable turn out of cadets are indeed a testimony to the highest professional standards and traditions at the Academy, which are upheld by the untiring commitment and dedication of faculty and the staff. You have earned your commission from one of the finest military institutions of the world.
The Admiral said that the defence and security preparedness of any nation is in direct response to its security dictates. We, in Pakistan, have a history of facing perils and successfully surmounting them. The challenges that this young nation has faced over the past few decades have made us more resilient and stronger. The unresolved disputes that continue to smoulder, and the daunting challenges that lie ahead, mandate that we maintain a constant vigil on the internal as well as external fronts.
The Naval Chief further added that our commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism and extremism from Pakistan remains unwavering. Operation Zarb-e-Azb nearing conclusion and pursuance of National Action Plan, exemplifies the commitment and resolve of the entire nation and its Armed Forces to defeat this scourge. Pakistan Army, being one of the most battle-hardened and professional armies in the world has rendered enormous sacrifices of officers and men. The numerous chapters of success have indeed been inscribed with the blood of our valiant soldiers, sailors and airmen. We salute our Shuhada. Pakistan remains undeterred and will continue its march, until we have secured our homeland against forces inimical to our progress and prosperity.
He further said that while Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir continues to bleed and Pakistan is being continuously subjected to a volley of false accusations by India, let me reiterate the fact that Pakistan is a peace loving country and seeks harmonious and peaceful co-existence with all its neighbours. The world can no more be misguided by the litany of falsehoods to divert global attention from atrocities in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir or attempts at seeking refuge through concocted stories. Any unintended outcome or act of aggression borne out of such adversarial design, whether by intent or even a strategic miscalculation will not go unpenalized. We shall defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity with full might and at all costs.
A large number of senior serving and retired armed forces officers attended the ceremony
Posted by Azahir in US CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER TO PAKISTAN on October 15th, 2016
Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS, US-Pakistan Friendship on October 11th, 2016
Posted by admin in CURRENT EVENTS on October 10th, 2016
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