In honour of “Veterans Day”, I felt that it was necessary to shine a light on all the good U.S./Nato have done, and continue to do, in Afghanistan. I wanted to recognise all those “soldiers” who have, in the past 11 years, exported peace into Afghanistan. I wanted to demonstrate my utmost appreciation to those who have transformed Afghanistan into the prosperous, peaceful, beacon of democracy it is today.
I wanted to recognise Bagram Prison, which has, since its inception, upheld human rights to an admirable degree. Truly, their torture techniques and prisoner detainee methods have successfully reformed and rehabilitated countless suspected militants.
I wanted to recognise the “Kill Team”; Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield, whose murder of civilians and subsequent documentation of their murderous endeavours and collection of human paraphernalia, was, no doubt, for the greater good of Afghanistan. I can say, without hesitation, that the murder of fifteen year old Gul Mudin truly won over the “Hearts and minds” of Afghans. Well done!
I wanted to recognise David Passaro, whose assault of civilian Abdul Wali lead to his death and subsequently removed one more militant from Afghanistan, greatly assisting in the war effort.
I wanted to recognise all the massacres committed by Nato, among them the Nangar Khel massacre of six civilians, including three children and a pregnant woman, by the Polish Army.
Lastly, I wanted to recognise Robert Bales, the ‘soldier’ responsible for the massacre of 17 civilians in Kandahar, including 9 children. Bales, the motherfucking coward that he is, first murdered then burned the bodies of his victims and has yet to be charged for his crimes despite the fact that over 8 months have passed since the incident.
These are just a few of the hundreds, if not thousands, of crimes committed by U.S/Nato personnel in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to recognise them all given the nature of impunity that characterises Nato efforts in Afghanistan.
Pay attention, you fucking fist full of assholes. If you’re going to remember ‘soldiers’, remember them all, including the countless murderers among their ranks. If you’re going to praise the ‘brave efforts’ of Nato armies, don’t forget to condemn their violations of human rights. If you’re going to recognise the ‘heroes’, recognise the thousands of cowards as well.
Now, get the fuck out of Afghanistan and the “Afghanistan” tag, you hypocritical pieces of shit.
I don’t even want to have their ugly mugs on my blog but I have to reblog this and bear with it. My hatred for the US government and it’s military knows no bound.
US military deaths in Afghanistan hit 2,000; Afghan deaths pass 20,000
October 1, 2012U.S. military deaths in the Afghan war have reached 2,000, a cold reminder of the human cost of an 11-year-old conflict that now garners little public interest at home as the United States prepares to withdraw most of its combat forces by the end of 2014.
The toll has climbed steadily in recent months with a spate of attacks by Afghan army and police — supposed allies — against American and NATO troops. That has raised troubling questions about whether countries in the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan will achieve their aim of helping the government in Kabul and its forces stand on their own after most foreign troops depart in little more than two years.
On Sunday, a U.S. official confirmed the latest death, saying that an international service member killed in an apparent insider attack by Afghan forces in the east of the country late Saturday was American. A civilian contractor with NATO and at least two Afghan soldiers also died in the attack, according to a coalition statement and Afghan provincial officials. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity because the nationality of those killed had not been formally released. Names of the dead are usually released after their families or next-of-kin are notified, a process that can take several days. The nationality of the civilian was also not disclosed.
In addition to the 2,000 Americans killed since the Afghan war began on Oct. 7, 2001, at least 1,190 more coalition troops from other countries have also died, according to iCasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks the deaths.
According to the Afghanistan index kept by the Washington-based research center Brookings Institution, about 40 percent of the American deaths were caused by improvised explosive devices. The majority of those were after 2009, when President Barack Obama ordered a surge that sent in 33,000 additional troops to combat heightened Taliban activity. The surge brought the total number of American troops to 101,000, the peak for the entire war.
According to Brookings, hostile fire was the second most common cause of death, accounting for nearly 31 percent of Americans killed.
Tracking deaths of Afghan civilians is much more difficult. According to the U.N., 13,431 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict between 2007, when the U.N. began keeping statistics, and the end of August. Going back to the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, most estimates put the number of Afghan civilian deaths in the war at more than 20,000.
The US-led coalition still has 108,000 troops in Afghanistan, 68,000 from the US.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2001. Here are some actions planned for the 11 year anniversary. Have some to add? Let us know.
Basic stats for US imperialism
a reference guide for activists.
Basic Statistics for United States Imperialism
Contents:
1—list of interventions for “regime change”
2—list of air warfare campaigns
3—list of client states
4—list of states held by debt-leverage imperialism
5—list of foreign base hosts
6—list of murder toll
7—list of unsavory rightists supported
8—list of perverted international bodies
9—list of interventions for opposing liberation
10—list of interventions pre-1941
11—list of covert operations
12—list of front organizations
13—list of low intensity conflicts
14—list of proxy wars
15—list of foreign policy doctrines
16—list of propaganda campaigns
Afghan exit will cost U.S. billions, Pentagon's No. 2 says
“The challenge of getting in and out of Afghanistan tells us a lot about why Osama bin Laden went there in the first place,” said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute and a defense industry consultant. “The leaders of al-Qaeda knew it would be very hard to sustain a war effort in such a place.”
Some of the challenges in Afghanistan, according to Carter, include:
•Dismantling 400 bases. Every item has to be inventoried, cleaned and shipped out — back home, or to stocks of equipment positioned around the globe. Some can be left to Afghans, though not much, he said, because they have limited ability to maintain gear.
•Returning 100,000 shipping containers, large metal boxes. The military paid more than $610 million in late fees over the past decade to shipping companies for failing to return containers on time, Pentagon records show.
•Bringing home 45,000 miltiary vehicles, including 14,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks. The vehicles, per U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements, must be cleaned of dirt chunks larger than a finger to avoid bringing alien species home.
“All that stuff has to come out now along the same slender arteries it came in on,” Carter said. “That is a very big difference from the last one of these I did, which was two years ago in Iraq.”
![THE AMERICAN DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN By: TOM HAYDEN In his article titled “After America,” Filkins states flatly that “the United States is leaving, mission not accomplished. Objectives once deemed indispensible, such as nation-building and counterinsurgency, have been abandoned or downgraded.” With 68,000 American troops there now, combat forces will be withdrawn by the end of 2014. There has been “no decision” by the US about how many American troops will be left behind. Filkins guesses, based on what he hears, that the number might be 10-15,000 US trainers, pilots, intel operatives and Special Forces, similar to the projected “residual force” in the 2007 Iraq Study Group recommendation that never materialized. “The Taliban will not be defeated” by the time the US pulls back from combat, Filkins says. Talks with the Taliban may falter, leaving the US and NATO without an enforceable peace agreement or diplomatic cover. Large areas in the south and east of Afghanistan will be under Taliban control, a geographic partition. Or if talks with the Taliban make progress, he concludes, that will likely provoke a resumption of the civil war with the old Northern Alliance. The country will be subdivided into multiple warlord fiefdoms. According to one of Filkins’ key Afghan sources, “Everyone is [already] preparing for 2014.”
Read more : http://tomhayden.com/home/the-american-defeat-in-afghanistan.html](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m79nsqZYc21qcmed9o1_1280.jpg)
THE AMERICAN DEFEAT IN AFGHANISTAN
By: TOM HAYDEN
In his article titled “After America,” Filkins states flatly that “the United States is leaving, mission not accomplished. Objectives once deemed indispensible, such as nation-building and counterinsurgency, have been abandoned or downgraded.” With 68,000 American troops there now, combat forces will be withdrawn by the end of 2014. There has been “no decision” by the US about how many American troops will be left behind. Filkins guesses, based on what he hears, that the number might be 10-15,000 US trainers, pilots, intel operatives and Special Forces, similar to the projected “residual force” in the 2007 Iraq Study Group recommendation that never materialized.
“The Taliban will not be defeated” by the time the US pulls back from combat, Filkins says. Talks with the Taliban may falter, leaving the US and NATO without an enforceable peace agreement or diplomatic cover. Large areas in the south and east of Afghanistan will be under Taliban control, a geographic partition. Or if talks with the Taliban make progress, he concludes, that will likely provoke a resumption of the civil war with the old Northern Alliance. The country will be subdivided into multiple warlord fiefdoms. According to one of Filkins’ key Afghan sources, “Everyone is [already] preparing for 2014.”
Read more : http://tomhayden.com/home/the-american-defeat-in-afghanistan.html
Why I refused to return to fight in Afghanistan's brutal occupation | Joe Glenton
At the same time as the Taliban attacks there has been a rise in atrocities. We have recently seen British soldiers convicted for raping children, as well as the stabbing by a squaddie of a 10-year-old Afghan boy. A multinational operation in all respects, the US has done its share; kill teams, SS flag-waving, photographing bodies, urinating on corpses and the Panjwai massacre carried out, according to the witnesses, by 15 to 20 US troops. When young men are shaped for war and sent to fight there are consequences – even in “just” wars. The training involves two-way dehumanisation – both of our soldiers and of the enemy – as Giles Fraser highlighted lately. These acts are coming thick and fast at the end of a long, dehumanising, failed war. Conscientious objection was a hard road for me, but while I was in military prison I received 200 letters a day, which helped. As did the support of my fellow soldiers.
Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
The War in Afghanistan
Please spare few minutes to watch this video and get informed.
“A video about what is happening in Afghanistan, I know it’s sad, but sadly it’s what’s happening…”
“Everything is backwards nowadays: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” George Orwell
“Political speech is designed to make lies honorable and murder respectful.” George Orwell
Laughing US soldiers shoot dead 16 Afghans, including 9 children.
KABUL, Mar 12: Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, Afghan officials said, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing.
One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies. Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of US soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar’s Panjwayi district at around 2 am, enter homes and open fire.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the rampage as “intentional murders” and demanded an explanation from the United States. His office said the dead included nine children and three women. An Afghan minister earlier told Reuters that a lone U.S. soldier had killed up to 16 people when he burst into homes in villages near his base in the middle of the night. Panjwayi district is about 35 km (22 miles) west of the provincial capital Kandahar city. Haji Samad said 11 of his relatives were killed in one house, including his children. Pictures showed blood-splattered walls where the children were killed.
“They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them,” a weeping Samad told Reuters at the scene. 
“I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren,” said Samad, who had left the home a day earlier.
Neighbors said they awoke to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, whom they described as laughing and drunk.
“They were all drunk and shooting all over the place,” said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where the incident took place. “Their bodies were riddled with bullets.”
Q:Hello. My name is Aleks and I'm a U.S. Marine. I've been to Afghanistan four times now. I'm proud of who I am, but not of what I, and my fellow soldiers, have done. I would like to go back to the Middle East, but not for war, but for what made my times there bearable: playing soccer with the civilians, teaching kids how to skateboard, sharing meals with civilian families.. I want to apologise for everything yet... I'm just one soldier. Does my apology count for something? Anything?
I hope the troops just withdraw sooner than later and leave Afghanistan for good. This war is not really doing any good for either side. Afghans are the ones who suffer the most out of it.
An apology from you, just one soldier, or the whole US marines in Afghanistan, it wont change a thing for any Afghan who lives in Afghanistan and suffers under this oppression. Unless an action follows and something really changes.
The only good thing out of an apology would be for your self, as it will help to make you a better person in future and realize the right from wrong. and hopefully wont stop at that, but rather do something about it and stand against these horrible things committed by the US troops in Afghanistan.
Many of the soldiers had their chances to either do things they are proud of & really help the people. And believe me you are not the first marine sending me a message saying they have done things they are not proud of and they wish they had done good rather than bad there. But, whats the use of feeling sorry about it later on when you come back to your home?
You soldiers had your time to do good to Afghan people rather than these things you are not proud of, you people could have done something you are proud of. Then, instead of this message you would be writing and saying ” Unlike most of the soldiers out there, i feel i actually did help the people in Afghanistan, if not many, atleast few. I cared and i tried. I played with the children and had meals with civilian families, and i can proudly say i didn’t commit things that i regret or that I’m not proud of”
But unfortunately no one says that to me, all they say is that they have done bad things and how they are sorry for it.
I thought Americans had freedom & you could always choose what to do and what not to do. I thought your opinion is respected? But i guess everyone does things they don’t like because actually they don’t have a choice, because they aren’t free to choose. They just obey. Even if they dislike or disagree to what they do.
Alot of marines have told me that, they couldn’t disobey their commander’s order to kill civilians or to bomb random houses because they thought them suspicious without proof, because they were scared they’d be punished for it or something, now tell me is that freedom? Not being able to stop doing something that you know deep down it is wrong and you shouldn’t because you are scared of someone?
It does nothing to Afghan people. An innocent kill can not be just forgiven by an apology from anyone. It will not make us feel any better, Nor it will ease our losses. It will not bring our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers back to life. It will not build our destroyed homes nor feed our orphans due to this war.
Truth, lies and Afghanistan
I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.
What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.
Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.
Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.
Watch this video! The untold story of 9/11, The Taliban and the Afghan war to help you understand whats going on. watch and share
“There can never be “Peace” and “Democracy” in Afghanistan, Why? Because “Peace” and “Democracy” will expose and cut off Corporate America’s opium and heroin trade source, so what was the pay off for US and British War on Afghanistan?”
“With no solid proof on who is responsible for 9/11 G.Bush attacked the poverty stricken war ravaged country of Afghanistan only 4 weeks after 9/11. The US and British dropped 12 thousand bombs on thousands of buildings and homes pounding them into dust and rubble and killing 8 thousand Afghan people, 20 thousand more people died from war related cause, starvation and disease. No body made the big budget TV production out of the massacre.”
“The US and British War on Afghanistan left behind millions of starving people and thousands of women homeless and penny-less”
Foreign powers hijack Afghan peace process
Foreign meddling in Afghan affairs has done more damage than good over the past two centuries, especially since 1973 when King Zahir Shah was ousted in a bloodless coup due to the confluence of three external anti-nationalist phenomena: communism, pan-Islamic extremism and CIA intrigue.
Today the Afghans are trapped in a violent nexus between three other essentially non-indigenous forces: the Karzai regime, Karzai’s Western benefactors and the Taliban as other outside interlopers try to shepherd a peace process that exists in name only.
The U.S. has gone so far as to applaud the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar, without consulting the Afghans, which has carved a path for the Taliban to be recognized by the international community as a legitimate political entity.
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