“The only winners emerging from Afghanistan these days are the drug barons who
preside over the world’s largest heroin trade and the pimps who control the
Chinese prostitutes operating from the scores of bordellos and brothels which
have emerged since the US military occupation.”
Several Days in Afghanistan as an Unembedded Journalist
YVONNE RIDLEY in Afghanistan on 08 November, 2008
http://www.dailymuslims.com/Columns/Yvonne-Ridley/Yvonne_Ridley_in_Afghanistan.html
THE day after US war planes bombed an Afghan wedding party killing more than 30
women and children, I drove from Pakistan ’s troubled tribal areas to the
border crossing.
Feeling rather sensitive towards my own security as a white westerner, I
decided to throw on an all-enveloping burka and make my way across in the
anonymity this garment gives women travelers.
As I walked across the border at Torkham towards the Afghan passport control
office I heard someone barking in a loud, aggressive American accent at one of
the drivers held up at the US-controlled checkpoint.
I looked up and watched as a heavily armoured, helmeted soldier pointed his gun
and continued screaming in a rude manner for the driver to get in line.
It obviously did not occur to him that most of the people in earshot could only
understand Pashto.
I really despaired and felt sorry for those Afghans who were being greeted by
this obnoxious alien in uniform as they entered their own country.
Now I know most Americans don’t do humility, but a little sensitivity should
have been called for on that day … it was the day after nearly 90 wedding
guests had been wiped out in yet another US airstrike.
I have now spent several days in Afghanistan as an unembedded journalist,
traveling around freely without an armed or military escort.
Yes, it’s risky and at times nerve-wracking but if I want to find out what is
really happening on the ground I’m not going to get it hiding in some hotel
compound or army barracks being briefed by an army spokesman who knows even
less than me.
So far I’ve spoken to men and women from all backgrounds, cultures and Islamic
ideologies and without exception they’re hacked off with the American presence.
All the goodwill I saw after the fall of the Taliban has been squandered by the
military presence of the US as well as the British (no one really distinguishes
between the two) and it is crystal clear they have overstayed their welcome.
The Taliban are in control of large swathes of the country and are now
bordering on Kabul having already carried out several raids on the capital
where Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is under virtual siege.
Since his installation as president he has often been accused of being a US
puppet, but even he is attempting to break free from those in Washington
pulling the strings.
Without a doubt, the continued presence of US and British forces has swung
violently from being regarded as the solution to becoming the cause of most of
the problems. And promises by various army chiefs to bring in more troops to
enforce a Baghdad-style surge causes one of two reactions depending your
political stance.
Peacemakers view the arrival of more troops with spiraling despair while the
Taliban and their supporters rub their hands with glee reckoning a larger enemy
presence will make an easier target.
Of course moronic comments by the likes of Commander Jeff Bender, a US forces
spokesman, don’t help. After the Kandahar wedding attack he said: "The
coalition and Afghan authorities are investigating reports of non-combatant
casualties in the village of Wech Baghtu .
"If innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologise and express our
condolences to the families and the people of Afghanistan ."
What does he mean “if innocent people were killed”. It seems this US
insensitivity isn’t just confined to the uniformed grunts at the Torkham border.
Does Commander Jeff Bender think that the 33 dead women and children his
warplanes wiped out were enemy combatants?
Scores of Afghans have been killed in American air strikes this year, fuelling
the resentment against the presence of foreign troops and widening the rift
between President Karzai and his western puppet masters.
The only winners emerging from Afghanistan these days are the drug barons who
preside over the world’s largest heroin trade and the pimps who control the
Chinese prostitutes operating from the scores of bordellos and brothels which
have emerged since the US military occupation.
So there you have it – Afghanistan a country in the grip of reckless soldiers,
slappers and smack.
Yvonne Ridley is a British renowned journalist, captured by the Taliban in
Afghanistan, while on assignment with the London ’s Sunday Express in 2001. She
subsequently converted to Islam and now works for the Iranian-based 24-hour
English language news channel Press TV, where she fronts her own London-based
current affairs show, The Agenda. She was a regular contributor and columnist
of defunct Muslims Weekly- New York , the parent newspaper of DailyMuslims.com.
She continues her for DailyMuslims.com
With Regards
Abi
