I have heard a few people in the last week or so say that we have "abandoned" Afghanistan, are now "ignoring" it. Which is funny, since I have a classmate whose son, a soldier, was almost killed a few weeks ago by an old Soviet landmine in Afghanistan. And I read regularly about what's going on in Afghanistan. The cities are in much better shape, the new democratic government is slowly getting better all the time, and we are continuing to root out the terrorists in the countryside.
Knowing all this, I thought you'd all enjoy reading this report by Chris Noble, that you can use as a reference for anyone who tries this "we've abandoned Afghanistan" business on you:
She has just passed the "checkpoint to freedom." What does this woman have to look forward to now?
Should she be happy that:
1) Her daughter can go to school and get an education?
Afghan children look through the gates of Fordosi school on the first day of the school year in Kabul on March 23, 2003. Ferdosi High School is the biggest girls school in Kabul and there are three shifts of classes every day to accomodate all the students. In rural areas of Afghanistan, many girls are still forbidden to attend school. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw
2) Her child can get decent medical care?
A U.S. Army doctor inspects the ear of an Afghan boy in the village Old Salo Kalay, 4 kilometers west of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 26, 2003. A team of army doctors, supported by American and Romanian Army soldiers, visited the village in an attempt to provide medical and humanitarian assistance. According to U.S. Army Sgt. Bill Hennesey from the Civil Affairs team, coalition forces are providing similar assistance to 73 villages around the Kandahar army base. The team distributed 300 'Humanitarian Daily Rations,' 30 radio sets, candies, toys and school supplies to the village. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
3) Or that her kid can simply be a kid?
Afghan boys pick up flowers from a field in Bagram, about 60kms (37 miles) from Kabul, March 30, 2003 as signs spring arrived in Afghanistan. The emergence of flowers and greens after a rainy season is a welcome news to Afghans after years of drought in the country. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw
Afghan boys react as they receive toys from U.S. Army personnel, unseen, in the village Old Salo Kalay, near Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 26, 2003. A team of army doctors, supported by American and Romanian Army soldiers, visited the village in an attempt to provide medical and humanitarian assistance. According to U.S. Army Sgt. Bill Hennesey from the Civil Affairs team, coalition forces are providing similar assistance to 73 villages around the Kandahar army base. The team distributed humanitarian rations, radios, candy, toys and school supplies to the village. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan)
By the way, you should check out Chris Noble's exciting new weblog. This is one promising new blog. I expect great things from Chris Noble, and am already proud to have him on my blogroll.
In fact, if you liked this from Chris, you'll like his report, "Do We Treat Iraqis Different?" even more. I can guarantee it.
Thanks to Chris for letting me reprint his report, and giving me the opportunity to introduce him to you all.
Dean, I've been saying it for months: the Civil Affairs teams are going to work wonders just by helping people every day.
They've had sixty years of training at it, and they keep getting better.
Dean, this just goes to show that you can get away with telling the same lies for a long time before they finally catch up with you. This also illustrates that many Americans are gullible. What the hell is going on anyway?
The "we've abandoned Afghanistan" argument is just a diversionary tactic from the anti-war side. The funny thing is that they can't even bring themselves to admit the good we've done and continue to do in that country, were opposed to that military action, and now use it as an excuse to condemn another military action.
Thanks for posting this.
I've got friends in Afghanistan (our local Civil Affairs NG unit is there). The only people who have forgotten Afghanistan are the newsies. Of course, if it's not on the nightly news, it doesn't exist, right? Right.
yes and it also means the Bush administration has dropped the ball right?
>>yes and it also means the Bush administration has dropped the ball right?
Remember Anonymouse, the next election is next year.
Wait...
After 6 years of drought, we invade and suddenly the _weather_ improves? I do sometimes wonder which god, specifically, is blessing us...
Thunderbutt, the god of rain and Micheal Moore sized donut orders?
Nice slideshow.
It's a pity.
We're brought up to see a certain way, read a certain way, talk a certain way, think a certain way.
We are pregoverned and predetermined in an effort to create mute soldiers for western societies, soldiers who accept and bow in the name of government. Soldiers who take pleasure in rebelling, and yet still miss the realities of life.
I am an American citizen, of irish and english decent. My grandfather was a billionaire aristocrat, the united states was under his hidden tyranny.
I have come to simple yet enlightening conclusions. The world is our harbor. We chose to ignore that which we cannot understand or accept.
After initiating 11 years war on afghanistan and stirring it into a state of turmoil, we forced them to turn the Russians into exile. We then left. After we killed an estimated 256 000 afghan citizens, we handed out candies and toys.
Our society fails to allow us to recognize the injustices in the world. As we sit, lounge, drink coffee, listen to the news and moan in sympathy with the world's injustices, the are people dying. Every second of every day, thousands of people die from war, starvation, malnutrition, etc. There is destruction outside of our civilized bubble. The deeper we instill ourselves in this bubble of the west, the further in we'll go, and the farther our basic human decencies will fall from us. We are lounging in money and there are people dying. Dying because they were born a different place, a different time, a different culture, a different color. We shall never understand until we stand in their shoes.
We can setup discussion forums and claim to understand. We can bash all the underprivileged in the world, claiming they do not know how to rise, they whine too much, the complain, they are nuisances. However, they are just as much a part of us as is our brother and sister and mother and father. They too are simple humans with complez circumstances.
We are selfish, reproachable creatures.
"If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine" -Che.
Let us ease our minds of guilts westerners because we've been taught to be tyrannical bastards. It's our nature.
I'm not impressed with how wealthy your grandfather was, "truth," and your statements about Afghanistan run counter to the facts.
You come off as just another unthinking kneejerk lefty to me.
afghan women and man are looking forward for a new and brite feuture .and i hope that we will be in a rite path and we will the best country of the world