AFGHANISTAN's women and children. (Afghanistan)

Member Name: Aang

Product:	Afghanistan
Date:	13/09/01 (158 review reads)
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Stoning to death and public hangings will take place in Afghanistan, under its NEW government. Cherie Blair and Herr Blair take note of that.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald 28/12/01, Afghanistan's NEW Justice Minister Abdul Rahim Karimi said on 27/12/01 that Afghanistan's NEW government will impose Sharia Islamic law.

Judge Ahamat Ullha Zarif told AFP (news agency) that PUBLIC EXECUTIONS AND AMPUTATIONS would CONTINUE....Adulterers would still be STONED TO DEATH.

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Afghanistan was once a fairly reasonable place.

1970's Afghanistan: think of music that could be Indian sitar, think of horses and carts, think of dry plains and treeless mountains, think of women not wearing veils!

KABUL: First a flight with Ariana in an ancient airliner where the seats seemed to be loose; and a descent to a small airport. And then the Intercontinental Hotel.

Kabul reminded me of Morocco or Spain: perhaps Granada or Tetuan or Fes.

Kabul - a high wall of blue-grey mountains in the distance and a curving river in the foreground.

Kabul - pretty children, muscular hook-nosed men in thick robes and funny flat caps and turbans, bazaars smelling of sweaty old clothes, flea-ridden guest houses and dust.

The bazaars were where you bought Lapis Lazuli or leather jackets or Turkman hats.

The bazaars were where most people did their shopping and the strange looking food was often bought from large sacks. Heroin, so they said, was easy to come by and smuggling was said to be a major industry.

Where to eat? We tried a teahouse, where a handsome boy served us ravioli filled with leeks and yoghurt and meat.

"Salamalikum," we said to a friendly little man called Hamid.

Hamid invited us into his mud-walled house which was full of children sitting on floor mats. His front room was decorated with calenders s
howing pictures of mosques. We were offered tea from a tin can and round pieces of sweet bread that had been cooked in an oven fired by wood.

There was very little rain, so the sky was usually deep blue and there were pleasant walks down by the river.

We were 6,000 feet above sea level in the Hindu Kush. It was very poor, very arid and moderately Moslem. About 90% of the people didn't seem to be able to read or write. About 90% of the land couldn't be cultivated.

In Kabul there were tall modern buildings, ancient city walls, modern mosques and old mausoleums and palaces and citadels.

We enjoyed seeing the tall Buddhist stupas at Charikar; great big statues with bits of their faces worn away by the weather.

The deep Kabul Gorge was very deep and somewhat lacking in vegetation.

There were some huge waterfalls, presumably fed by winter snows, as much as by rain. There was so little rain.

There was Babur's garden which has the tomb of Babur, founder of the Moghul Dynasty, and the tomb of Emperor Shah Jahan. It was good to see trees and flowers.

Afghanistan's winter capital, Jalabad, lies 100 miles east of Kabul. We enjoyed strolling through its peaceful gardens, tree lined boulevards and friendly markets.

What was Afghanistan like in the 1970's?Afghanistan was tribal and medieval. It was friendly with its neighbour Russia. It was not fundamentalist.

The people were often beautiful and often kind. And progress was being made.

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Then a foreign country began the destruction of Afghanistan.

Robert Gates, then CIA director, stated in his memoirs (From the Shadows) that American intelligence services began to aid the extremist Mujahadeen terrorists in Afghanistan six months BEFORE the Russian invasion.

On July 3rd 1979 President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the terr
orists who opposed the government of Afghanistan. "That very day," stated Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's National Security Adviser, in Le Nouvel Observateur 15/1/98, "I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion THIS AID WAS GOING TO INDUCE A SOVIET MILITARY INTERVENTION."

The Russians fell into the trap.

In 1979 Russia invaded Afghanistan. The Russians tried to :

1. improve education.

2. bring about land reform.

3. end the heroin trade.

But, the USA and the UK were arming about 15 different and often competing Mujahideen groups, each with its own ideology. These primitive Mujahideen fought the Russians.

1,500,000 people were killed. One million were maimed. Six million people fled from Afghanistan. Landmines were planted and these are still killing children today.

The Russians never managed to control more than a small part of Afghanistan and eventually they withdrew.

15 different groups then fought a civil war using kalashnikovs and US missiles. Kabul ended up in ruins. Museums were looted. People starved.

The US supported Taliban took over Kabul in 1996. The Taliban were originally a group of students who had acted against a warlord who had raped a schoolgirl.

According to the US propaganda, the Taliban were good. They were going to help the US build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. Taliban leaders were invited to the USA.

The Taliban CLAIMED many 'achievements':

1. 'They re-unified a fragmented country that had been split between 5 warring factions. They ended up controlling over 90% of the country.'

2. 'They brought peace to the area they controlled, by taking away people's kalashnikovs and missiles; and by ending the despotic power of warlords.'

3. 'Whereas women, prior to the Taliban, had been treated by the warlords like animals,
to be bought and sold and raped, the Taliban tried to protect women. Women were allowed to work and to choose their marriage partners.'

(These were the Taliban claims. It should also be noted that the Taliban, put into power by the USA, had women treated to barbaric punishments, for minor offences.)

4. 'They started to get rid of the poppies and the heroin.' Afghanistan had supplied 75% of the world's heroin.

Eventually the US fell out with the Taliban. The US felt that there was an unsafe and hostile security situation in the region. And the US propaganda changed.
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We were told: There have been mass hangings and stonings; Women and children have suffered the most.

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The Taliban and Usama Bin Laden:

The Taliban offered to hand bin Laden over to any country (other than the USA) without needing to see any evidence. The USA said it was not interested. This has led to suspicions that bin Laden may still be working for the Americans.

During the war against the Russians, the USA created and controlled a network of Mujahadeen underground cells with bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Germany, the USA....

The USA taught the mujahadeen how to carry out acts of urban terrorism.

There were links between the Palestinian Ramzi Ahmed Youssef (who later allegedly tried to destroy New York's World Trade Centre), Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdul-Rahman and the Saudi Usama Bin Laden.

The CIA spent billions training and arming the most fanatical and primitive people.

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Why is the USA so interested in Afghanistan?

On July 29 2001, The Sunday Telegraph reported:

"The rush to exploit the oil riches beneath the Caspian Sea is threatening to turn violent after an Iranian patrol boat chased two BRITISH PETROLEUM vessels from a disputed exploration si
te off Azerbaijan last week....

"The move marks the growing militarisation of this corner of Asia, which has become increasingly tense since the discovery of VAST OIL RESERVES."

The Guardian 24/10/01 reported:

"To the north of Afghanistan lies the Caspian and Central Asian region....

"The US believes that total oil reserves could be 270 billion barrels (The UK has reserves of 5 billion barrels)...

Military Review, the journal of the US army, reported in 2000 :

"As oil companies build oil pipelines from the Caucasus and central Asia to supply Japan (and China) and the West...strategic concerns gain military implications..."

The US and the UK want an oil pipeline through Afghanistan.

Cynics say that the USA, facing a long economic depression, needs a war. It doesn't matter whether or not bin Laden is captured, so long as there is a long war, and lots of spending on armaments.

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Have things improved in Afghanistan?

Carjackings, shoot-outs and banditry are now the norm in Jalalabad, according to Time magazine. Violent crime is soaring. And the War Lords are back in control.

Time reported 21/12/01 that many Afghans were beginning to miss the stability that had been brought by the Taliban.

Delawar had his Toyota stolen by one local warlord. Khan had his sheep stolen by another. A ten year old was shot by a stray bullet....

In a tent made of sacks Abdul lives with his wife, children and grandchildren. His son Jaan was killed by a landmine. His surviving children can't sleep because of the cold.

Sah's 13 year old son and his 10 year old grandson have starved to death.

Bandits control many roads, including the Kabul-Jalalabad road, preventing relief supplies from reaching the starving.

Alliance soldiers have stolen much of the Aid Agency
9;s food, medicine and blankets.

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The Scottish MAIL ON SUNDAY reported that its poll showed 48% of Scots opposed the bombing of Afghanistan!

The Guardian has questioned the 'evidence'
against bin Laden.

The Mirror had a front page picture of an injured Afghan child and a story entitled 'Why do they bomb us and kill innocent people.' The Mirror reporters were behind Taliban lines, unlike the pro-New Labour/Pentagon BBC.

Private Eye had a front page picture of Tony Blair singing to troops: "It's raining bombs! Hallelujah!" Are they suggesting Blair is not all that he seems?

The Independent had a front page story about Afghans: "FAMILIES BLOWN APART, INFANTS DYING. THE TERRIBLE IMAGES OF THIS 'JUST WAR.'

So as Bush and Blair rain down cluster bombs on little children, where is bin Laden?

Chinese and Japanese news wires have reported that bin Laden was killed by his own men on 16 October. Did they discover that bin laden was still working for the CIA?

www.chinanews.com
and www.yomiuri.co.jp

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THE USA, HEROIN AND ATROCITIES :

A restaurant in London -

"You know how the CIA works?" asks Akbar, a well educated and liberal Pakistani.

"Tell me," I say.

"The CIA works to help America sell hamburgers and weapons and heroin. The CIA works on behalf of the billionaires who secretly run America.

"When American big business is threatened by popular leaders, the CIA steps in. They find right-wing military people and put them into power. Then there is no land reform, no improvement in wages, no democracy."

"Examples?"

"Iran. The CIA overthrew Mossadegh because he was a democrat about to hit British oil interests.

"Guate
mala. The CIA overthrew Arbenz because he was going to stand up to Rockefeller's United Fruit Company.

"South Vietnam. The CIA supported dictators who opposed land reform. Laos. The CIA opposed the popular Pathet Lao.

"Ecuador. The CIA forced out democratically elected Velasco. Congo. The CIA assassinated the popular Lumumba. Brazil. The CIA pushed out democratically elected Goulart.

"Indonesia. The CIA put Suharto into power and Suharto's forces then killed up to a million Indonesians. The CIA gave the Suharto people lists of those to be dealt with. Chile. The CIA assassinated Allende. And so on and on. Angola, Nicaragua, El salvador...."

"All in the Third World."

"Greece. The CIA backed the colonels against Papandreous. Australia. The CIA helped topple Whitlam.

"Italy. The CIA has influenced elections. France. The CIA helped the Corsican mafias take over Marseilles.

"Britain. Who is really pulling the strings in the media and in parliament? Do you think a British leader would be able to oppose America? He'd be toppled instantly."

"You mentioned Drugs?"

"In Afghanistan the CIA supported the Mujahedeen's heroin deals. Three quarters of the heroin going to Western Europe was coming from the friends of the CIA. You know the CIA's Air America was used to transport heroin in Indochina."

"So you don't like America?"

"I am against all terrorism. But it is the Americans who train and arm most of the terrorists. And those who live by the sword shall die by the sword."

"And what about Afghanistan?"

"Someday the Americans will drop some bombs and kill some more women and children. And then Bush will be a big hero. And all the media controlled by the CIA will applaud."

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