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26 Comments
- perryc, on 11/03/2009, -1/+9It seems like is getting worse and worse...they just kidnap anything now...
- Barackalypse, on 11/04/2009, -0/+8Most of the people I know can't be disillusioned because they view Afghanistan as a perpetually warn torn wasteland full of selfish and violent people that can't really be helped. Aid workers tend to believe that people are generally good and that they can make a real difference to improve their lives. In other words, only those with hope can lose it.
- Barackalypse, on 11/04/2009, -1/+8I wonder if being kidnapped disillusions aid workers.
- alanocu, on 11/04/2009, -1/+7McChrystal's admission that the Taliban are "not finite" must be held up for inspection -- first of all by General McChrystal himself. For what he subliminally recognizes is that the problem is not a defined group -- the "Taliban" -- but rather all those who join, or support those who join, any of a hundred or a thousand similar groups. And indeed, the enemy is not only those who support, directly and indirectly, Muslim terrorist groups that are engaged in Jihad -- that is the "struggle" to remove all obstacles to the spread, and then the dominance (in places where it has already spread) of Islam. In countries of Dar al-Islam that means purifying the practice of Islam, removing those elements that those inattentive to, or insufficiently moved by, the dictates of Islam, have muddied its pure serene.
In short, this is scary sh!t. - Barackalypse, on 11/04/2009, -0/+5That is why my advice on war is "never start a war unless the threat to you is so great that you would still be willing to fight it if the only way to guarantee victory was to kill every last person in the enemy's Country". Afghanistan and Iraq do not meet these tests, therefore we shouldn't be there because the tactics we are willing to employ (as generally moral people) will not be sufficient.
- Ferretman, on 11/04/2009, -2/+7Ah...the Religion of Peace strikes again.
- NightC, on 11/04/2009, -3/+7Wait... this doesn't make sense! According to the Europeans and everyone else, the Americans are the bad guys and the poor Taliban are just trying to get there country back so they can practice their religion and force it on others! This must be U.S. propaganda because the Taliban does no harm!
- poprocksandsoda, on 11/04/2009, -1/+4Wouldn't it had been great if Obama had been elected and was able to take the war to "where it should be fought" in Afghanistan and increase troop levels?
- lemur, on 11/04/2009, -0/+3Well technically they are trying to get their country "back" from US control, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Taliban represents the interests of the Afghani people. Neither Taliban nor USA represents Afghanistan, but I suppose more of the natives feel comfortable with Taliban rather than USA because, you know, they're actually from the same part of the world (imagine that!).
- Pasaris, on 11/04/2009, -1/+4@erhanaltay,
You're a ***** idiot. - JohnnySoftware, on 11/04/2009, -0/+2In reading news articles about the actions of the Taliban lately, it is hard to remember they have anything to do with a religion or politics. Rather, than even hinting at fundamentalist leanings these days, they simple seem like another Mafia. Extortion, drugs, kidnapping, insurrection, treason - where do they find the time to go to church?
Hope this woman is rescued from these profiteers.
By the way, who ever issues an and/or option in a ransom demand? Think about it. - inactive, on 11/04/2009, -1/+2As opposed to anyone else?.
- adamkhel, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1I think Afghanistan is in a worse off position right now than Japan was right after the Nagasaki/Hiroshima bombings. How do you annihilate the population even more (without, you know..., killing *everyone*)?
- NightC, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1Exactly, and besides there is no indication that the majority of the people in Afghanistan want the taliban back. IF they did, then it would be a popular revolt against America and Karzai.
- Barackalypse, on 11/04/2009, -1/+2Well, he already sent 21,000 more American lives to be put in harms way for no discernible benefit seeing as he can't be bothered to actually come up with a strategy.
- erhanaltay, on 11/04/2009, -2/+3Agreed. Don't get into a war and try to conduct it like a gentleman's sport. War is hell. If you're serious about it, your only concern should be winning as soon as possible. In this case it would mean annihilating Afghanistan's civilian population (they're the ones who feed the taliban)
We did this in WW2 against Germany and Japan and won quite quickly. Nation building is supposed to start AFTER the war is over, not during... - fragomatik, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1@erhanaltay "Aid workers don't go to Afghanistan to help Afghans. They go there to stroke their own egos.The same is true of missionaries."
Ok, to some degree I can "understand" your attitude toward missionaries, but aid-workers? Do you really find it so unfathomable, or despicable, that there are actually people driven by altruism? Call them stupid, or misguided, or naive, if you must, but to call them "ego-stroking" is a pretty big call, don't you think? Do you also feel the same way about the Red Cross, or Medicine Sans Frontieres, or Amnesty International and other organisations that have an altruistic mission?
erhanaltay also said: "Start a business that employs people.."
If you read the article you will see that this is precisely one of the many things that the teacher Lerounis was doing in the Chitral Valley for the last 15 years, in order to help the Kalashi people.
FTA: "He cultivated pride in Kalash identity, created jobs for the subsistence economy and offered an economic alternative to the tempting financial rewards dangled by the Islamists to get tribespeople to convert."
IMO you really need to examine your motivations for such strong negative feelings towards other peoples' altruism and self-sacrifice. It takes all kinds of people to make up the world. We are not all the same. We are *not* all driven by power, status, money and egotism. Your comment rejects out-of-hand the possibility and the fact that the human spirit is capable of honour and nobility. Please, don't sell our species short. Peace! - lemur, on 11/05/2009, -0/+1No, but Germans were more ready to accept Hitler's rule than they would Russia's (come to think of it, they actually voted Hitler into office). Just because people are comfortable with domestic rule in opposition to foreign rule doesn't make the domestic rule good.
- PeppermintPig, on 11/04/2009, -1/+2erhanaltay has a point about self interest, but I don't get why he's gloating about kidnapping. That's just moronic.
- NightC, on 11/04/2009, -0/+1Hitler was from the same part of the world, so was he better for Germany's interests? So was Stalin, was Russia better off?
- DulcetTone, on 11/04/2009, -1/+2I voted against the Taliban candidate for our school board. I'm fighting back.
- banik2008, on 11/04/2009, -0/+0Woman?
- Mykonos08, on 11/04/2009, -1/+0and you thought christains were bad
- erhanaltay, on 11/04/2009, -4/+1Aid workers don't go to Afghanistan to help Afghans. They go there to stroke their own egos. The same is true of missionaries. Remember those stupid Korean missionaries who got kidnapped in Afghanistan? That's probably the only time I rooted for the Taliban during the present conflict.
You want to help humanity? Go discover/invent something. Start a business that employs people, lobby congress to lift agricultural tariffs so those currently living as subsistence farmers can export their products to America and earn a decent living. - erhanaltay, on 11/04/2009, -4/+1@Pasaris
What's the matter? Did a missionary win your heart when you were a child? - Ymeg, on 11/04/2009, -7/+1Western propoganda
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