AfghanistanicaAfghanistanicaAn exploration of Afghanistan-related issues. Articles
Faulty Intelligence and Civilian Casualties
2007-05-12 20:18:00 May 12, 2007. One reporter noted that one of the recent bouts of civilian casualties in Afghanistan might have been the result of deliberate misinformation by “tribal rivals.” Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I would hope that NATO/US troops are no longer falling for this BS. I’ve heard that they have become quite skeptical about local information and are especially wary of walk-in informers. I imagine that they just don’t have the time and resources to follow up on every report. I would also hope the situation is not as bad as late 2001/early 2002 when on the say-so of some random guy the Americans wiped out a convoy of tribal leaders on the way to a (the?) Jirga. Turns out they were not Al-Qaeda. And once a Shura-yi Nazar commander tried to get the Americans to call in an air strike on…..Americans, plus a few of his regional rivals who were accompanying them. Apparently he insisted they were all Taliban and Al-Qaeda. So allow me to translate the information provided b... More About: Intelligence , Fault , Civil , Casual , Casualties
Debbie Does Kabul
2007-05-10 05:52:00 You know the same old story: female American ex-prison guard/hair dresser escapes abusive traveling protestant minister husband by going to Afghanistan, opening a beauty academy and marrying a “warlord” affiliated to Rashid Dostum. There was a documentary made about the beauty academy and now the woman in question, Deborah Rodriguez, has written a book about her experience. The book is apparently full of amusing or tragic anecdotes: Debbie punches out an Afghan man who gropes her in the bazaar (if you knew about Michigan girls you would not attempt to grope them), the Ministry of Women’s Affairs tries to close the school due to excessive laughter, Debbie’s husband sees her off to Afghanistan by expressing his wish that she die there, a Women’s Ministry representative flees in terror from her first encounter with a blow-dryer and her Afghan husband at one point tells her she can’t come into the living room because “there are warlords in here.” Ms. Rodriguez-Abdul Kh...
File Under: Afghanistan, Pegasus, France, Massoud, Nordic Angels, WTF?
2007-05-08 05:13:00 May 8, 2007. For your viewing bemusement via France , official home of the Ahmed Shah Mass oud fan club: I found this while searching for Massoud images to accompany the earlier blog entry about Massoud and iconography. I don’t know what I should think about this illustration, which is apparently from a book you can find for sale below. St. Ahmed, patron saint of French journalists indeed. Copyright : Monique Decamps, SACD, Ilustration Rudy Van Giffen. Found at: Massoud Djaniat School More About: Afghanistan , Angels , File
Afghanistan and the Qawm: An Important Yet Unknown Concept
2007-05-07 07:35:00 May 7, 2007. You must know this word: qawm (also transliterated as qaum or qowm). Apparently anthropologists are hoarding this word and not wanting to share it with others. But I’ll set it loose on the interweb so that the google may find it. But first… If you believe what you read in the media and what you see and hear on television then the fault lines and loyalties in Afghanistan are obviously apparent: ethnic groups and Islamic sects. Maybe if the media is feeling smart they will discuss Pashtun tribal loyalties as well. However, I’ll deal here primarily with attacking the idea of ethnic loyalties being a strong determining factor for mobilization and social organization on the ground in Afghanistan. Olivier Roy argues against assuming that all members of an ethnic group defined by its spoken language actually share a coherent identity with a “will to express themselves politically.” Many others agree that loyalties are strongest within local communities, not at a ... More About: Unknown , Know , Once , Concept
Totally out of context quotes #9 and #10
2007-05-06 19:22:00 May 6, 2007. “What was more important in the world view of history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?” Context : Former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski speaking in the mid-1990s about American funding for the anti-Soviet Jihad and the rise of the Taliban. The quote is available all over the place with its date and context removed to make it seem as if Brzezinski is being quoted post 9-11. The earliest I can trace it back is to 1995 in Olivier Roy’s book Afghanistan: From Holy War to Civil War (Princeton University Press). But this quote is post- 9-11: “Had our leaders known that the cost of bringing down the Soviets would be over 3,000 dead Americans, the destruction of New York’s World Trade Center, an attack on the Pentagon, simultaneous embassy bombings in Africa, the disabling of the USS Cole and radical cells sprinkled across the globe operating agai... More About: Quotes , Total , Quote , Ally
Rambo Will Not Be Returning To Afghanistan
2007-05-05 20:45:00 May 5, 2007. If you recall the 1980s at all you will remember the movie Rambo III. In the movie Rambo goes to Afghanistan and thrashes the Soviets. It’s really quite simple. Of course, the movie was a huge hit in The USA, Pakistan and Afghanistan. So when I saw about 5 years ago that Rambo was considering a return to Afghanistan to fight terrorists I was sort of excited. But then the producers decided that the war was over and there was no need to send in Rambo. And now I see that Rambo has decided to harness the marketing power of Jesus. In the current Rambo movie, scheduled for release on May 2008, Rambo will be rescuing Christian human rights workers and their sympathetic ethnic Karen Christian friends from the evil Burmese (Myanmar) government. Oh well, at least Afghanistan has an indigenous Rambo. His real named (almost never used) is Jamaludin. He is an unarmed security guard who gained fame for beating down a would-be car-bomber at the entrance to a NATO base. Rambo... More About: Will , Return , Turn
The Five Iconographic Moods of Ahmed Shah Massoud
2007-05-04 06:56:00 May 4, 2007. Whitney Azoy, the anthropologist who wrote Buzkashi: Game and Power in Afghanistan, wrote a fascinating article on Ahmed Shah Mass oud, iconography and ethnicity. The article, titled “Masood’s Parade” (PDF), discusses the omnipresent (in Kabul) visual representations of Massoud. Azoy identified five different categories of emotional imagery for Massoud. I’ve done my best to find images that I think match up with Azoy’s descriptions. #1. “… grinning, easygoing…” #2. “…calm, almost majestic…” #3. “…at prayer…reverent and unguarded before God.” #4. “…beyond normal consciousness, lost in thought, bearing a sorrow too great for other men.” #5. “…expressionless, disciplined, relaxed, completely in command.” Unfortunately, Azoy noted that the Rambo-esque Massoud action posters of the 1980s are sadly no longer available. But, inshallah, I will track one down on ebay or in the bazaar. In a sidebar in his article Azoy disu... More About: Moods , Graphic , Five
Retractions and Apologies
2007-05-03 21:49:00 May 3, 2007. I haven’t blogged about myself before and I promise not to do it again after this. But it appears I have caused some consternation for a certain number of graduate students at Indiana University’s renowned Department of Central Eurasian Studies. Also, the story is sort of funny in an inside joke sort of way (take this as a warning that you may want to skip this blog entry). In this earlier blog entry I mocked a grad student at Indiana University who spelled “Afghanistan” wrong on his Master’s thesis paper title page. What an idiot! Anyways, some students at Indiana saw that blog entry and decided to indirectly attempt to remedy the situation. This is one of the emails that was forwarded to me by someone who thought it was all so funny. The redactions are mine, not the CIA’s. “Hey, So there is this blog online that covers issues on Afghanistan. Usually, it is pretty good. However, last week he posted a blog about how stupid IU studants are in CEUS [Indi... More About: Trac , Logies , Polo , Logi
Female Soldiers of the Afghan National Army
2007-05-03 00:02:00 May 2, 2007. First a picture from the bloggers over at Afghanistan Without A Clue. Her face is censored for her protection. Apparently she changes into her camo-hijab after arriving at the military base. I’ll bet $1000 she is a [name of ethnic group removed]. The only thing missing is a good pair of combat boots. More About: National , Female , Army , Male , Soldiers
Stewart of Afghanistan versus Lawrence of Arabia
2007-05-01 19:32:00 May 1, 2007. Time magazine has published a nice tidy little article on Rory Stewart , who I wrote about in my second most popular blog entry ever. I was annoyed that he had claimed Afghans want the return of the Russians. I was further annoyed by his endorsement of disastrous development mega-projects that destroy local cultures and treat people like minor annoyances to be brushed aside for the sake of “progress.” Thankfully, Rory Stewart has not been put in charge of any macro-development projects. Instead he founded the very worthy Turquoise Mountain NGO that focuses on training traditional artisans and craftsmen. In a reversal of the language he used in his questionable NY Times editorial, Rory Stewart had this to say about his NGO: “This is a development project that says ‘we respect your traditional culture, and we are going to put our resources and our technology and our knowledge toward supporting it,’ as opposed to a development project which says &lsquo... More About: Afghanistan , Lawrence , Versus , Arabia
Stewart of Afghanistan versus Lawrence of Arabia
2007-05-01 19:32:00 May 1, 2007. Time magazine has published a nice tidy little article on Rory Stewart , who I wrote about in my second most popular blog entry ever. I was annoyed that he had claimed Afghans want the return of the Russians. I was further annoyed by his endorsement of disastrous development mega-projects that destroy local cultures and treat people like minor annoyances to be brushed aside for the sake of “progress.” Thankfully, Rory Stewart has not been put in charge of any macro-development projects. Instead he founded the very worthy Turquoise Mountain NGO that focuses on training traditional artisans and craftsmen. In a reversal of the language he used in his questionable NY Times editorial, Rory Stewart had this to say about his NGO: “This is a development project that says ‘we respect your traditional culture, and we are going to put our resources and our technology and our knowledge toward supporting it,’ as opposed to a development project which says &lsquo... More About: Afghanistan , Lawrence , Versus , Arabia
The Israelis Are Coming!………To Afghanistan?
2007-05-01 02:56:00 April 30, 2007. Apparently the Spanish military bought a few UAVs (pilotless drones) from the Isra elis. OK, so what? Well, the Spaniards intend to use them for their NATO operations in Afghanistan . Hmm….getting interesting. Furthermore, the Spanish will need some technicians from the Israeli army to operate them in Afghanistan. Even more interesting, but not earth-shaking. Shalom Afghanistan! The Afghan newspaper Cheragh took the whole thing in stride and said that Afghans have other more pressing concerns and probably wouldn’t be that bothered. Just kidding. The journalists at Cheragh flipped out. Apparently the whole region will go up in flames. Afghans, the fragile bunch that they are, will be unable to function at all as long as this outrage is being perpetrated against them. Blah, blah, blah…. outrage, conflict, war, unbearable suffering, etc… I understand that some in Afghanistan will be a little preturbed that some Israeli hardware and a few Jewi... More About: Hell , Ghan , Ming
The Israelis Are Coming!………To Afghanistan?
2007-05-01 02:56:00 April 30, 2007. Apparently the Spanish military bought a few UAVs (pilotless drones) from the Isra elis. OK, so what? Well, the Spaniards intend to use them for their NATO operations in Afghanistan . Hmm….getting interesting. Furthermore, the Spanish will need some technicians from the Israeli army to operate them in Afghanistan. Even more interesting, but not earth-shaking. Shalom Afghanistan! The Afghan newspaper Cheragh took the whole thing in stride and said that Afghans have other more pressing concerns and probably wouldn’t be that bothered. Just kidding. The journalists at Cheragh flipped out. Apparently the whole region will go up in flames. Afghans, the fragile bunch that they are, will be unable to function at all as long as this outrage is being perpetrated against them. Blah, blah, blah…. outrage, conflict, war, unbearable suffering, etc… I understand that some in Afghanistan will be a little preturbed that some Israeli hardware and a few Jewi... More About: Hell , Ghan , Ming
Pashtuns as Victims
2007-04-30 02:11:00 April 29, 2007. The history of the modern Afghan state has in part been defined by the dominance of the Pashtuns and by their demographic and political expansion into non-Pashtun areas within Afghanistan. In this process, known as Pashtunization, ethnic Pashtuns displaced Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen and others. During Pashtunization non-Pashtun land was confiscated, local leaders were “removed,” Pashtun settlers were moved in (forcibly or with incentives), excessive taxes were levied, minorities were denied a voice in government (as were many Ghilzai Pashtuns), Pashto was imposed on Dari and Uzbek speakers, some local communities were attacked and destroyed, etc… Photo: Abdur Rahman Khan, the architect of Pashtunization. I’ll save the full story for another day and include all the sources. I’ll just say for now that the only voice of scholarly dissent is Hasan Kawun Kakar. Although he is pretty lonely in making his claim that Pashtuns were the original inhabitants o... More About: Victims , Victim
Pashtuns as Victims
2007-04-30 02:11:00 April 29, 2007. The history of the modern Afghan state has in part been defined by the dominance of the Pashtuns and by their demographic and political expansion into non-Pashtun areas within Afghanistan. In this process, known as Pashtunization, ethnic Pashtuns displaced Hazaras, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen and others. During Pashtunization non-Pashtun land was confiscated, local leaders were “removed,” Pashtun settlers were moved in (forcibly or with incentives), excessive taxes were levied, minorities were denied a voice in government (as were many Ghilzai Pashtuns), Pashto was imposed on Dari and Uzbek speakers, some local communities were attacked and destroyed, etc… Photo: Abdur Rahman Khan, the architect of Pashtunization. I’ll save the full story for another day and include all the sources. I’ll just say for now that the only voice of scholarly dissent is Hasan Kawun Kakar. Although he is pretty lonely in making his claim that Pashtuns were the original inhabitants o... More About: Victims , Victim
New Afghanistan Blogs (But Why No Pashtun Blogs?)
2007-04-28 18:38:00 April 28, 2007. I thought I should point out two interesting blogs on Afghanistan that I’ve stumbled upon. Safrang and A*W*A*C were both very helpful in sending readers to my blog when I first started so it is only fair that I pass on the favour. The first of the two blogs is Mohammad Fahim Khairy’s blog. Mohammad, a student in Arizona, has some obvious political beliefs and he is quite out front in his blog entries about these beliefs. I think it is safe to assume that he is not Pashtun. Here’s a pic of the man behind the blog: This is what Mohammad has to say about himself: “I started to work with World Food Program Afghanistan in 1993 I became severely sick. Initially my symptoms included severe headaches, fever, and overall weakness of my extremities. As these symptoms got worse, my entire neck and left arm became paralyzed. I gradually lost the ability to move my limbs. Upon completion of my “treatment”, I was diagnosed with Guillain Barre... More About: Blogs , Logs , Ghan
New Afghanistan Blogs (But Why No Pashtun Blogs?)
2007-04-28 18:38:00 April 28, 2007. I thought I should point out two interesting blogs on Afghanistan that I’ve stumbled upon. Safrang and A*W*A*C were both very helpful in sending readers to my blog when I first started so it is only fair that I pass on the favour. The first of the two blogs is Mohammad Fahim Khairy’s blog. Mohammad, a student in Arizona, has some obvious political beliefs and he is quite out front in his blog entries about these beliefs. I think it is safe to assume that he is not Pashtun. Here’s a pic of the man behind the blog: This is what Mohammad has to say about himself: “I started to work with World Food Program Afghanistan in 1993 I became severely sick. Initially my symptoms included severe headaches, fever, and overall weakness of my extremities. As these symptoms got worse, my entire neck and left arm became paralyzed. I gradually lost the ability to move my limbs. Upon completion of my “treatment”, I was diagnosed with Guillain Barre... More About: Blogs , Logs , Ghan
The Great Abandonment: Could America Have Done More for Afghanistan?
2007-04-27 05:39:00 April 27, 2007. It’s an often-stated sentiment, inside Afghanistan and in America , that The United States abandoned Afghanistan to a horrible fate after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops and the fall of Najibullah. Many Afghans protest that they defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and that defeat caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in return the Americans abandoned them. Pic: Afghanistan? Not a priority for these two guys. There is much truth to this. However, there is also much falsehood in it as well. I will deal with the misperceptions/falsehoods first: #1 The belief that the Afghan Mujahideen caused the collapse of the Soviet Union is confined to the Ronald Reagan fan club. Sovietologists and historians reject this idea. They argue that economic stagnation and rising nationalism caused the USSR to collapse. But this belief is an obvious source of pride to many Afghans and will likely persist. #2 Arguing that the problems of the post-Najibullah era (Civil War... More About: Great , Have , More
The Great Abandonment: Could America Have Done More for Afghanistan?
2007-04-27 05:39:00 April 27, 2007. It’s an often-stated sentiment, inside Afghanistan and in America , that The United States abandoned Afghanistan to a horrible fate after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops and the fall of Najibullah. Many Afghans protest that they defeated the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and that defeat caused the collapse of the Soviet Union, and in return the Americans abandoned them. Pic: Afghanistan? Not a priority for these two guys. There is much truth to this. However, there is also much falsehood in it as well. I will deal with the misperceptions/falsehoods first: #1 The belief that the Afghan Mujahideen caused the collapse of the Soviet Union is confined to the Ronald Reagan fan club. Sovietologists and historians reject this idea. They argue that economic stagnation and rising nationalism caused the USSR to collapse. But this belief is an obvious source of pride to many Afghans and will likely persist. #2 Arguing that the problems of the post-Najibullah era (Civil War... More About: Great , Have , More
Totally out of context quote #8
2007-04-26 04:40:00 April 26, 2007. “I have written ten books over the last five years and over the last six months I have written a book on the bible which I hope will be printed soon. It will be called The Bible in the Light of the Qur’an.” Context : Renowned biblical scholar (and part-time Jihadi) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar discusses his book publishing aspirations, among other things, with Cheragh journalist Mr. Safi. From the March 6th edition translated by AfghanWire. Here’s a pic of “Engineer” Hekmatyar from an ealier time when he still had no gray hair. I’ll just be presumptuous and provide a bibliographical citation for the eagerly anticipated forthcoming book: Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin. 2008a. The Bible in the Light of the Qur’an: A Comparative Analysis from Somewhere Near the Durand Line. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. More About: Text , Total , Quote , Ally
Totally out of context quote #8
2007-04-26 04:40:00 April 26, 2007. “I have written ten books over the last five years and over the last six months I have written a book on the bible which I hope will be printed soon. It will be called The Bible in the Light of the Qur’an.” Context : Renowned biblical scholar (and part-time Jihadi) Gulbuddin Hekmatyar discusses his book publishing aspirations, among other things, with Cheragh journalist Mr. Safi. From the March 6th edition translated by AfghanWire. Here’s a pic of “Engineer” Hekmatyar from an ealier time when he still had no gray hair. I’ll just be presumptuous and provide a bibliographical citation for the eagerly anticipated forthcoming book: Hekmatyar, Gulbuddin. 2008a. The Bible in the Light of the Qur’an: A Comparative Analysis from Somewhere Near the Durand Line. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. More About: Tall , Text , Total , Quote
The Persistent Myth of Pre-Taliban Anarchy
2007-04-25 03:11:00 April 25, 2007. I hear time and time again from the news media, and from those who parrot what they say, that before the Taliban rose to power Afghanistan was in a state of chaos and anarchy. In this Hobbesian “state of nature” (yes political philosophers, I acknowledge the popular misinterpretation of “Hobbesian”), brutality and misery abounded. But when the Taliban appeared out of “nowhere” the people rejoiced and basked in the security provided by the benevolent religious students. To sum up, with less sarcasm and hyperbole, many journalists and commentators believe that a war-weary population universally terrorized by warlords and militias throughout Afghanistan welcomed the Taliban and the security they provided. However, the facts on the ground contradict this ridiculous lie. I call it a ridiculous lie because the “pre-Taliban chaos” myth is basically Pakistani ISI and Taliban propaganda. Furthermore, The US State Department actually helped promote this propa... More About: Anarchy , Liban , Narc , Myth
The Persistent Myth of Pre-Taliban Anarchy
2007-04-25 03:11:00 April 25, 2007. I hear time and time again from the news media, and from those who parrot what they say, that before the Taliban rose to power Afghanistan was in a state of chaos and anarchy. In this Hobbesian “state of nature” (yes political philosophers, I acknowledge the popular misinterpretation of “Hobbesian”), brutality and misery abounded. But when the Taliban appeared out of “nowhere” the people rejoiced and basked in the security provided by the benevolent religious students. To sum up, with less sarcasm and hyperbole, many journalists and commentators believe that a war-weary population universally terrorized by warlords and militias throughout Afghanistan welcomed the Taliban and the security they provided. However, the facts on the ground contradict this ridiculous lie. I call it a ridiculous lie because the “pre-Taliban chaos” myth is basically Pakistani ISI and Taliban propaganda. Furthermore, The US State Department actually helped promote this propa... More About: Anarchy , Liban , Narc , Myth
Fun With CIA Redaction in Afghanistan
2007-04-22 20:43:00 April 22, 2007. My blog entry making fun of Gary Schroen’s book was quite popular. So I figured it would only be fair to read the book by the other Gary about the CIA operations in Afghanistan in the months after 9-11. I’m not done yet, and a review is forthcoming. The book is Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field Commander: A Book With Many Subtitles by Gary Berntsen. For now I just wanted to show the amusing CIA redactions from the book. They are censoring already well-known facts and information. And many of the redactions actually got by the censors for Gary Schroen’s book. Here’s a sneak peak. You can view the text up close by clicking on these thumbnails. If you guessed that the redacted text is about Rasul Sayyaf then you win absolutely nothing. There were a total of seven clues that give away his identity. Especially funny is the fact that this same story is in Gary Schroen’s earlier... More About: Ghan
Fun With CIA Redaction in Afghanistan
2007-04-22 20:43:00 April 22, 2007. My blog entry making fun of Gary Schroen’s book was quite popular. So I figured it would only be fair to read the book by the other Gary about the CIA operations in Afghanistan in the months after 9-11. I’m not done yet, and a review is forthcoming. The book is Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field Commander: A Book With Many Subtitles by Gary Berntsen. For now I just wanted to show the amusing CIA redactions from the book. They are censoring already well-known facts and information. And many of the redactions actually got by the censors for Gary Schroen’s book. Here’s a sneak peak. You can view the text up close by clicking on these thumbnails. If you guessed that the redacted text is about Rasul Sayyaf then you win absolutely nothing. There were a total of seven clues that give away his identity. Especially funny is the fact that this same story is in Gary Schroen’s earlier... More About: Ghan
“Expert” Can’t Spell ‘Afghanistan,’ Uzbeks as
2007-04-13 23:28:00 April 13, 2007. First of all, I’ll be travelling for a bit. So there will be a 10-day blog hiatus. Control your grief. Secondly, I must mock this person. View the title page, printed on 36 lbs watermarked 100% organic banana leaf fairtrade paper that costs way to much at Kinkos. You should probably check your hastily reformatted thesis title before handing in your MA thesis paper to your graduate school. Click on this thumbnail to the left for a laugh. And if you are actually interested in minorities in Afghanistan (or Tajikistan), especially the Uzbek s, this thesis paper may serve as a decent bibliography at the very least. The title is Uzbeks Versus The Center: Mobilization As An Ethnic Minority In The Tajikistan and Afghanistan Civil Wars. You can download the paper here in pdf. More About: Expert , Ghan , Pert
“Expert” Can’t Spell ‘Afghanistan,’ Uzbeks as
2007-04-13 23:28:00 April 13, 2007. First of all, I’ll be travelling for a bit. So there will be a 10-day blog hiatus. Control your grief. Secondly, I must mock this person. View the title page, printed on 36 lbs watermarked 100% organic banana leaf fairtrade paper that costs way to much at Kinkos. You should probably check your hastily reformatted thesis title before handing in your MA thesis paper to your graduate school. Click on this thumbnail to the left for a laugh. And if you are actually interested in minorities in Afghanistan (or Tajikistan), especially the Uzbek s, this thesis paper may serve as a decent bibliography at the very least. The title is Uzbeks Versus The Center: Mobilization As An Ethnic Minority In The Tajikistan and Afghanistan Civil Wars. You can download the paper here in pdf. More About: Expert , Ghan , Pert
Totally out of context quote #7
2007-04-12 18:49:00 April 12, 2007. “I hate this country and every single person in it. Including you.” Context : Journalist Jean MacKenzie has a “foreigner meltdown” after a mullah at Radio Helmand suggests she is too old for marriage. She then storms out and vents her anger at her translator. Note to all mullahs: don’t suggest to a Western woman that she is old. That’s like picking a fight with a Marine Corps Force Recon team at a North Carolina jarhead bar. Find the whole story at Jean MacKenzie’s Afghan blog. More About: Tall , Text , Total , Quote
Totally out of context quote #7
2007-04-12 18:49:00 April 12, 2007. “I hate this country and every single person in it. Including you.” Context : Journalist Jean MacKenzie has a “foreigner meltdown” after a mullah at Radio Helmand suggests she is too old for marriage. She then storms out and vents her anger at her translator. Note to all mullahs: don’t suggest to a Western woman that she is old. That’s like picking a fight with a Marine Corps Force Recon team at a North Carolina jarhead bar. Find the whole story at Jean MacKenzie’s Afghan blog. More About: Text , Total , Quote , Ally
Afghanistan’s Nightmare Scenario: Pakistani Civil War Refugees
More articles from this author:2007-04-11 05:35:00 April 11, 2007. While Afghanistan may be making tentative (and problematic) progress in rebuilding society and governance, much still hinges on events in neighbouring Pakistan . This issue has been discussed ad nauseum by pretty much everybody. But imagine, if you will, the absolute worst for Pakistan: state disintegration, internecine warfare, Sunni-Shia fighting, Baluchi versus whoever tries to retain their territory, death squads, total chaos, etc… Obviously, this would have extremely negative consequences for Afghanistan, both economically and politically (although it may deflect Pakistani-based Jihadis into a more inward direction towards domestic rivals than they are at the moment). But the most serious consequence would be the flow of refugees into Afghanistan. Think I’m joking? Do you think it is completely implausible that refugees would think of Afghanistan as any sort of safe haven? Well, believe it or not, there is a recent precedent: I present to you the T... More About: Nightmare , War , Night 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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