War returns with a vengeance as allies fail the Afghan people

[JoFerret]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=524628

Bush and Tony Blair made grand promises when they took on the Taliban. They sound hollow now. What does it all mean for Iraq? Kim Sengupta reports
25 May 2004


The road from the village of Ozbin Khol is safe no longer. The eight aid workers packed into a Toyota LandCruiser were keen to get to their destination, Sarobi, before nightfall. But a punctured tyre stopped them. Two young men, carrying Kalashnikovs, their faces covered by keffayahs, came out of the darkness, lined up the passengers and opened fire, killing five.

The killings, in Paktika province, south-east of Kabul, were at the end of February. The next month, gunmen burst into a guesthouse near the southern city of Kandahar, killing three more aid workers. Two weeks ago, two Europeans, one with a Swiss passport, were stoned and stabbed to death at Bagh Chilsthan, just 15 minutes' drive from the centre of Kabul.

Reports of the murders appeared in the international media, briefly, because the victims were either from the West, or had links with international relief agencies. There have been other deaths - 15 children killed by United States warplanes in raids while attempting to eliminate a warlord in December. Another dozen Afghans were killed in the next few weeks, either enemy combatants, said the Americans, or the result of collateral damage among civilians.

In Herat, internecine fighting between forces of the warlord, Ismail Khan, and the governor sent by Hamid Karzai's government in Kabul led to the deaths of 100 people, including Mr Khan's son.

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[hedda_foil]

1. Oooopsie

[Hell Hath No Fury]

2. Gosh, I wonder if "handover" of Iraq....

will go as well as Afghanistan has?

:freak:

[Spazito]

3. The Taliban and warlords rule 70% of Afghanistan...

the only territory held by NATO/US is Kabul. This doesn't translate, to me, as a "victory". blair and bush promised not to abandon the Afghans this time and, as with everything else, immediately did the reverse.

[crossroads]

4. Empty promises! Sad situation.

:kick:

[teryang]

5. WTF?

You have to go to England to read this.