Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Taliban slit throats of “U.S. spies” in Pakistan

“DAMADOLA, Pakistan, June 27 (Reuters) – Taliban militants in northwest Pakistan publicly slit the throats of two Afghans on Friday after they were accused of spying for U.S. forces suspected of launching a missile strike in May.

The two men, one of them a former Taliban fighter, were brought blindfolded before a crowd of several thousand people near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border before they were executed.

. . . .

The crowd shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) when the Taliban held up the severed heads of the victims who Rehman said were from the eastern Afghan province of Kunar.”

Grameen Bank Micro-lending in NYC

The Grameen bank is a private bank, pursuing their own interest as they should, but it’s telling that a bank which specializes in anti-poverty micro-lending has chosen to do business in NYC.

The irony is sickening. We’re using tax-payer money to build $200,000 schools, $10,000 retaining walls, multi-million dollar roads in Afghanistan and Iraq like it’s going out of style. We should open a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Queens, or better yet, let American workers keep their salaries and get government out of the business of redistributing wealth, let alone empire-building.

The Road Strategy

Road-Building and counter-insurgency in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province.

22-Year-Old Miami Beach Resident gets $300 Million Pentagon Contract to Arm Afghan Forces, Provides Defective, Aging Ammunition

Narratives from the Korengal Valley

This long NY Times Magazine article describes an infantry company’s life in the Korengal Valley.

(An M249 SAW is NOT a heavy machine gun – but this is still a great article.)

Benazier Bhutto: Osama Bin Laden is Dead

At about 6:10, during this inverview the former Pakistani Prime Minister says “Omar Sheik, the man who murderred Osama Bin Laden . . .”

One frequent theme on some of the more paranoid blogs I read is that Osama is a creation, or at least an agent of the United States whose purpose is to perpetuate and expand our wars. Some of the comments posted to this video speculate that she simply misspoke, others elaborate upon the conspiracy theory.

Sadly, Bhutto’s interviewer didn’t ask for a clarification.

UPDATE:

Great rebuttal by YouTube’s representative press:

Response to Gary Kasparov — A Pawn’s Concern

In his December 2nd Wall Street Journal opinion piece, “Chessboard Endgame”, Gary Kasparov applies his expertise to U.S. foreign policy and offers recommendations.

Here is my reply, which, sadly, the Journal chose not to publish.