KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's president sharply critiqued the seven-year Afghan war yesterday, complaining that US and NATO troops haven't made life better. The criticism came a day after he accused foreign forces of undermining him with a "parallel government" in the countryside....
No, an invasion and destruction of a country -- as well as the "collateral damage" of dead men, women, and children -- will tend not to do that.
During a meeting Tuesday with a UN Security Council delegation, Karzai called for the international community to set a timeline for ending the war, although he didn't mention a specific date. He asked how - given the number of countries involved and the amount of money spent in Afghanistan - "a little force like the Taliban can continue to exist, continue to flourish."
Well, when you are defending a people from mass-murder and slaughter by western imperialists, you tend to stay around awhile. Ask the Vietnamese.
Karzai then turned to one of his long-standing criticisms of US and NATO military actions: high-powered ground attacks and airstrikes that cause civilian casualties. He said he visited yesterday with Afghans from a village in Herat province where an Aug. 22 US raid killed at least several dozen civilians. One villager, Karzai said, asked how the president would feel if he had to take his wife and son and flee his home every night for fear it would be hit by an airstrike.
"They get their children and leave their houses and look for a safe place," Karzai said. "Let's imagine that we are those people, suffering from those fears. If our children are being bloodied because of the fighting, we cannot come up with words for it." --more--"
Yes, it is hard for me to come here day after day and put words to the unending atrocity that is Afghanistan.
What do I want?
I want the killing to stop, the U.S. and NATO to apologize and then LEAVE!!!! If the Afghans would be kind enough to have us back in a non-military fashion to help rebuild their nation, then I would be all the more grateful.
On the other hand, if they wanted us to get out and leave them alone, well, then that is fine, too! Just please, PLEASE, stop killing beautiful people who NEVER DID ANYTHING TO US!!!!!!!!!
