RAWA News: The figures cited by McChrystal suggest a large increase (though very small absolute numbers) of civilians killed by NATO actions, when in fact the level of deaths has remained stable. Secondly, the NATO figures are gross, “fantasy” undercounts, e.g., during the first three months of 2010 they captured at most 39% of...
Read more »
Archive for December, 2010
The Politics of Counting Dead Afghan Civilians
Rising Anti-Westernism in Afghanistan
FOX News: In recent weeks, Afgan President Hamid Karzai’s anti-western behavior has become well known to even the most casual observers of Afganistan. First, he stood next to, and appeared to agree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the Iranian President called America and its international allies fighting in Afganistan “occupiers.” Days later, Karzai told supporters...
Read more »
Officials: NATO forces kill four Afghan school students
DPA: Afgan officials said Tuesday that NATO forces shot dead four Afgan school students, but NATO said those killed were Taliban militants and their associates. The incident happened around three kilometres south of Khost city, the capital of the south-eastern province of Khost, on Monday night, Mubarez Mohammad Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial...
Read more »
Three Afghan children killed in donkey-drawn cart bombing
Earth Times: Three children were killed and four other people were injured when a bomb hidden in a donkey-drawn cart exploded in southern Afganistan on Monday, officials said. The cart was abandoned in front a tribal chief’s residence in the centre of Kandahar city on Monday afternoon and was then remotely detonated, Zalmai Ayoubi,...
Read more »
U.S. Troops Kill Four Afghans
Wall Street Journal: U.S. troops killed four Afghans whose vehicle approached a military convoy, stoking anger about the frequent shootings of Afgan civilians on the country’s roads. Monday night’s incident, outside the southeastern city of Khost, happened just a week after a U.S. road-clearance unit sprayed a packed passenger bus with deadly gunfire near...
Read more »
Britain ‘hands over prisoners in Afghanistan to face torture’
Telegraph: Government denials of such abuse are the result of a “head in the sand” attitude, partly borne out of a close intelligence relationship with the Afghans, the judges were told. They are the latest allegations of British complicity in torture following investigations into MI5 and MI6. Human rights lawyers have assembled details of...
Read more »
McCHRYSTAL LOST IN AFGHANISTAN, IS IGNORANCE THE REAL EXCUSE?
Veterans Today Network: As usual, America is in a war for all the wrong reasons, pushed by Israel, bought off by drug money and backed into a corner. At a time when a “new broom” and strong leadership is needed, we respond with “damage control.” Even with the press descending into simple...
Read more »
Britain ‘hands over prisoners in Afghanistan to face torture’
Telegraph: Government denials of such abuse are the result of a “head in the sand” attitude, partly borne out of a close intelligence relationship with the Afghans, the judges were told. They are the latest allegations of British complicity in torture following investigations into MI5 and MI6. Human rights lawyers have assembled details of...
Read more »
Deadly earthquake hits Afghanistan
Al Jazeera News: A powerful earthquake has struck central Afganistan, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 30, officials said. The quake of 5.3 magnitude hit the highly mountainous Samangan province, northwest of the capital, Kabul, early on Monday. The earthquake was felt in Kabul as well as neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan...
Read more »