Aid workers killed in Afghanistan.

[Twin Towers]

Irish girl dragged from a car and murdered in cold blood.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7558076.stm

Correction: no Irish citizens were involved. And the descriptions I've received from Afghanistan (where I've lived and worked in the past, as long term p.ie-rs will know) indicate that nobody was dragged from a car; rather the car was sprayed with bullets. - krayZpaving-

[Simon.D]

Irish girl dragged from a car and murdered in cold blood.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7558076.stm

It apparently turns out that that BBC report was wrong..

BreakingNews.ie: Irish woman not among Afghan-ambush victims

Still a sad occurrence none the less..

[Adonis]

Deliberate targeting of unarmed non-combatants is cowardly.

[code twinkle]

It is very sad. The BBC notes that

"Earlier this month aid agencies warned they may become unable to operate in parts of Afghanistan once seen as safe, because of the intensifying conflict. The Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), pointed to a 50% increase in insurgent attacks compared to last year."

Also that

"Kabul blamed the rise in insurgent attacks on the Pakistani government's attempts to negotiate peace deals with militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan"

and

"Nato commanders have said violence is up by some 40% in eastern Afghanistan since spring this year, partly due to troops patrolling more areas."

What's going wrong?

[Twin Towers]

What's going wrong?

Nineteen aid workers so far this year. Do their murderers see them as spies or just worthless infidels? Is their hatred inspired by allah?

[goosebump]

It is very sad. The BBC notes that

"Earlier this month aid agencies warned they may become unable to operate in parts of Afghanistan once seen as safe, because of the intensifying conflict. The Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), pointed to a 50% increase in insurgent attacks compared to last year."

Also that

"Kabul blamed the rise in insurgent attacks on the Pakistani government's attempts to negotiate peace deals with militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan"

and

"Nato commanders have said violence is up by some 40% in eastern Afghanistan since spring this year, partly due to troops patrolling more areas."

What's going wrong?

Afghanistan seems to be a dreadful place. I'm currently reading Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazaar' in which he describes his railway journey from London to Tokyo in the early '70s.

His memory of Kabul is seeing a camel collapse under a load of timber, whereupon it was set upon by a mob who skinned and dismembered it in 20 minutes. He said it was the only place on the trip he regretted going to.

[expat girl]

It is very sad. ....

What's going wrong?

There are two problems. Firstly, if one invades foreign countries in order to take control, for whatever reasons (high minded or otherwise), the peace will not last for ever and the length of the peace is probably in proportion to cultural similarities between host culture and invaders. In other words, Brits, Russians, US, Nato, whoever, are doomed in Afghanistan in the long term, especially given inhospitality of terrain

Secondly, we are paying increased amounts for oil, the Saudis are making bigger profits and they give 1/10, according to one of the 5 pillars of Islam, to charity. Given the fact that fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam is ascendant in Saudi Arabia, many of the recipients of our oil money are charities that promote fundi brands of Islam......including the Taliban

So the West is funding both the war and the resistance to it, indirectly.

The West needs to bail out of there, and preferably end its dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Frankly, the US should probably have limited itself to bombing the Bejaysus out of the terrorist camps in Afghanistan after 911, the invasion is both expensive and, in the long term, pointless. Solutions will be achievable when the Saudis run out of money. Which brings us back to oil... again

[code twinkle]

It is very sad. The BBC notes that

"Earlier this month aid agencies warned they may become unable to operate in parts of Afghanistan once seen as safe, because of the intensifying conflict. The Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), pointed to a 50% increase in insurgent attacks compared to last year."

Also that

"Kabul blamed the rise in insurgent attacks on the Pakistani government's attempts to negotiate peace deals with militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan"

and

"Nato commanders have said violence is up by some 40% in eastern Afghanistan since spring this year, partly due to troops patrolling more areas."

What's going wrong?

Afghanistan seems to be a dreadful place. I'm currently reading Paul Theroux's 'The Great Railway Bazaar' in which he describes his railway journey from London to Tokyo in the early '70s.

His memory of Kabul is seeing a camel collapse under a load of timber, whereupon it was set upon by a mob who skinned and dismembered it in 20 minutes. He said it was the only place on the trip he regretted going to.

ugh gross. my own unconscious images of afghanistan from that period would be more along the lines of this



so i guess there were two sides to the country back then.

still don't know if that explains why violence is on the increase so long after the toppling of the Taliban...

[Dr Qasim Afridi]

Nineteen aid workers so far this year. Do their murderers see them as spies or just worthless infidels? Is their hatred inspired by allah?

Nope... more likely by the presence of NATO troops there.

[Twin Towers]

my own unconscious images of afghanistan from that period would be more along the lines of this

Is she been measured for beheading ?