Amid increasing reports of
resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda activity, another horrible tragedy in Afghanistan: The
NYT is reporting that a US helicopter crash near the Pakistan/Afghan border has killed 10 American soldiers. Not the result of enemy fire, apparently (like that is supposed to make it all right, somehow?...).
Meanwhile, the opium trade is booming, to the point that Afghanistan is effectively a "narco-state," thanks to US policy (and some say, actual participation a la Iran Contra). New reports suggest critical food shortages:
The U.N. food agency appealed on Thursday for urgent donations to help feed 3.5 million Afghans, warning that rations would soon have to be cut if it could not get funds.
Most Afghan farmers do not harvest enough food to meet their needs and many sell their assets, and some even their daughters, to survive, the WFP said.
That damned UN.
MORE BELOW
Bush was bored quite early on with Afghanistan. Iraq was more exciting. Osama's escape from Tora Bora was the first result of his inattention. Now he's trying to dump the whole mess on NATO, Canada, whatever suckers he can find. Pretty soon the whole country will be gone, back to the Taliban and
al Qaeda. Army Times reports
The al-Qaida terrorist network is training Arab militants in southern and southeastern Afghanistan in the use of roadside explosives and in ambush tactics, a senior Afghan general said Thursday.
Lt. Gen. Sher Karimi, chief of operations for the Afghan National Army, said in a videoteleconference with reporters at the Pentagon that elements of al-Qaida also are working with Taliban militants and aiding narcotics smugglers.
A
key Afghan fighter has declared his allegiance to Osama Bin Laden.
A wanted Afghan warlord said he was ready to fight under the banner of the Al Qaeda terror network headed by Osama bin Laden, according to a video broadcast on Qatar-based Al Jazeera yesterday.
“We look forward to fighting along their side and under their banner,” Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said referring to bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Hekmatyar, who heads the anti-government party Hezb-e-Islami, is a former prime minister now wanted by US forces as a terrorist.
Hekmatyar berated Western governments for not taking seriously a truce offer made by bin Laden in January to the American people and another to European countries in April 2004 in return for an end to interference in Muslim countries.
“The Americans and their friends the Europeans are the ones who declared war on the Muslims and ignited the flames in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said."
Meanwhile, the US spinners are
trying to blame the whole impending failure on Pakistan. Sure. Thanks for
freeing 50 million people, George...heckuva job. Give yourself the Medal and fire yourself.
PS: in a related story, the US
military-industrial complex has announced that the
elevator going DOWN er
rocket ship to hell I mean the infamous
Osprey pivoting engine aircraft/helicopter/boondoggle is being
deployed to Iraq next year. Like we don't have enough spontaneous crashes already. But, hey, the sales department is just not getting any orders for this
overly-gravity-susceptible pig aircraft, and so an attempt at lipsticking must be made. Given the number of rotary craft crashes we've already had, the Osprey won't be noticed (unless they actually try to use it for combat).