Should Canada Be Continuing To Contribute Troops To Nato's Mission In
Afghanistan?
At this writing:
Yes = 21%
No = 79%
**
From: "Sid Shniad" <shniad@gmail.com>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/02/hope-ballot-box-afghanistan-gone
The Guardian: November 2, 2010
Any hope I had in the ballot box bringing change in Afghanistan is gone
If Karzai's re-election was a fraud, Obama's surge of troops brought just
more violence. For Afghans he's the 'second Bush'*
*Malalai Joya in Kabul*
One year ago Hamid Karzai was declared re-elected as president of
Afghanistan, ending an election that had no legitimacy in the eyes of
ordinary Afghans. The presidential election last year was a fraud, with
ballot stuffing, vote buying and massive corruption reported by the world's
media. Even if the independent election commission had not cancelled the
planned run-off between Karzai and his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah,
it would have represented only a choice of the "same donkey with a new
saddle". People had no incentive to participate as they knew that both main
candidates would bring nothing positive for Afghan people.
Karzai had lost his popularity way before the 2009 election. This was due to
the ever increasing corruption of the government, the never-ending crimes of
the many fundamentalists and warlords in his regime, and the financial
scandals and corruption of his brothers. In Kandahar people even started
calling Ahmed Wali Karzai the "little Bush", after the hated US president.
The vast majority of Afghans have lost all hope in Karzai. For us his words
and actions have no value, and that includes his latest "peace negotiations"
and other measures. Including killers like Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar in the government is not about negotiating for peace, but
completing the decades-old circle of warlordism and fundamentalism.
It's important to say that these so-called elections haven't damaged
Afghanistan as much as the US and its Nato allies have, with their bombing
and occupation. Wikileaks has exposed some of the truth about the civilian
toll of this war against the Afghan and Iraqi peoples. Afghans hold the US
and Nato, and their puppet Karzai, responsible for these war crimes. They
claim to fight terrorism, but in fact they are the biggest terrorists in the
eyes of our people because of their crimes and brutalities.
Unfortunately the Afghan people are not yet strong enough to drive out the
US, overthrow the mafia government of Karzai and bring an end to the crimes
of the Taliban and other fundamentalists. Our history proves that this
resistance to occupation will continue until we have won our freedom. Until
both the US and the fundamentalists – of both the Northern Alliance and
Taliban brands – are driven out of power in Afghanistan, we cannot see a
bright future. It is now more than five years since I was elected to the
Afghan parliament. My experience of this "democratic process" was to see my
microphone cut off, and to be threatened with death by other MPs – many of
whom teamed up to remove me illegally from my seat. My case alone is enough
to prove that women's rights in Afghanistan have not truly been safeguarded
– our situation was just invoked to justify the war.
In fact, it's important to remember another document that Wikileaks exposed
earlier this year: a CIA paper assessing western public opinion on the war
that recommended using "testimonials by Afghan women" expressing fear about
a Taliban takeover in the event of Nato pulling out. A Time cover story
featuring the disfigured Bibi Aisha was a clear example of using the plight
of women as war propaganda. The headline – "What happens if we leave
Afghanistan" – could have, or should have, been "What happens while we are
in Afghanistan", because crimes of mutilation, rape and murder against women
are commonplace today.
Many warlords and commanders aligned with Nato and Karzai carry out their
sexist, misogynist crimes with impunity. Time could, for example, have done
a cover story condemning the law signed by Karzai in 2009 that legalised
crimes against Shia women, or about the shocking levels of women committing
suicide by self-immolation.
We had another so-called parliamentary election in September, but I chose
not to run. Any hope I had for using the ballot box to achieve change in
Afghanistan is gone. Like last year's presidential vote, September's
election was full of the buying and selling of votes – one province,
Paktika, reported a turnout of 626%. This sort of thing is the reason
elections in Afghanistan long ago became a bad joke.
Tomorrow there is an election in the US, and it is now two years since
Barack Obama was elected president. His surge of troops has brought only a
surge of violence, and his expansion of the war into Pakistan has claimed
many innocent lives. Obama promised "hope" and "change", but Afghans have
seen only change for the worse. Here he is now seen as a "second Bush".
The only change that can make us hopeful about the future is the
strengthening and expansion of a national anti-fundamentalist and
democracy-loving movement. Such a movement can be built only by Afghans. And
while we want the world's support and solidarity, we neither need nor want
Nato's occupying forces.
_______________________________________________
Rad-Green mailing list
Rad-Green@lists.econ.utah.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment