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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Bobby on September 6, 2006, at 20:03:56
to see the Afghan economy thriving after we poured our tax dollars and our men and women in to liberate them from the Taliban. I hear the poppy crop is the best it's ever been. that's great-- Now we can finally bring our troops home to fight the war on drugs
Posted by Declan on September 7, 2006, at 3:55:59
In reply to It is heartwarming, posted by Bobby on September 6, 2006, at 20:03:56
Echoes of Vietnam.
Posted by tealady on September 25, 2006, at 20:31:46
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming, posted by Declan on September 7, 2006, at 3:55:59
saw on TV last night a documentary on Afganistan. It came acros=s to me that the locals seem to be feeling they don't care who the govt is...just that when it was the Taliban in power they got food, now they don't... the repression etc., other conditions are much the same, well according to those heard from...
They dont really care but would prefer to have food to eat? .. so surprisingly aren't exactly thankful for their liberation..also saw the US funding printing of textbooks, as well as the usual US aid mostly going to US contractors and money really benefitting US.. very litttle benefitting the country its for, and even less the people... I just hate road buiding funding as well
"At times, says Jones, education spending by the US has also gone strangely wrong.
ANN JONES: In the education projects that were done by US private contractors, they went in and reprinted books that had originally been devised by Islamist extremists in the midst of the American proxy war against the Soviets. So these textbooks give their lessons in terms of fighting against the infidels and fighting against Satan and all of that. They are, as one Afghan education expert told me, appropriate for the madrassas, but certainly not for the schools, and yet the United States paid for reproducing millions of these books and handing them out to schoolchildren who were going back to school."
source:http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1748069.htm
Posted by Jost on September 26, 2006, at 23:25:59
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming » Declan, posted by tealady on September 25, 2006, at 20:31:46
That's not surprising to me. I wish we had simply focused on making Afghanistan a place that was much better than it had been-- for everyone. Which I believe we could have done. despite much of the same.
Just yesterday, one of the most senior women in government was assassinated there. (From the NY Times)
"A senior Afghan official specializing in women’s rights was gunned down here on her way to work on Monday morning by suspected Taliban gunmen. It was the highest-level assassination of a woman in Afghanistan in the five years since the Taliban were ousted from power.Safia Amajan, 65, had served as chief of the women’s affairs department in Kandahar Province for five years, working for women’s rights and education and vocational training. A former teacher and high school principal, she was well known and much liked in Kandahar."
Jost
I find this profoundly dismaying. Worse than that really.
Posted by alexandra_k on September 27, 2006, at 0:15:34
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming (or not)** tealady, posted by Jost on September 26, 2006, at 23:25:59
> That's not surprising to me. I wish we had simply focused on making Afghanistan a place that was much better than it had been-- for everyone. Which I believe we could have done. despite much of the same.
I wish either the UN would take the initiative (as the most global organisation we have) with the US offering *support* to the UN in terms of troops etc...
Or the US would accept that the other country probably doesn't want to be *helped* by the US...
Posted by tealady on September 27, 2006, at 17:08:19
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming (or not)** tealady, posted by Jost on September 26, 2006, at 23:25:59
It's what I thought was happening.. only with some detail. As many in politics find aid is difficult to control with corruption/greed, but a checklist that gets checked out by an independant group or two and feedback all the way helps.. difficult though.
Also may I offer the idea that the UN is not considered to be independent of the US, and IMO never has been since conception; although at one stage Russia or Russia/China played "balancing in part" check.. whether we liked it or not.
At present there's a bit of a void .. .
won't be for ever
and whether it will be better or worse for the world as a whole?.. too much thinking here for me... :)
Posted by alexandra_k on September 27, 2006, at 22:42:25
In reply to (or not)** » Jost, posted by tealady on September 27, 2006, at 17:08:19
> Also may I offer the idea that the UN is not considered to be independent of the US...
Sure. But there has been some divergence between UN and US policy...
Posted by Declan on October 13, 2006, at 2:35:37
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming (or not)** tealady, posted by Jost on September 26, 2006, at 23:25:59
'I wish we had simply focused on making Afghanistan a place that was much better than it had been.'
Jost, I couldn't agree more. But the mood was too angry, and the balance of opinion in the administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld?) too adverse to nation building. Still, Afghanistan would have been work enough. And had it succeeded it would have gone to the credit of the US. As it is, we shall see....
Not much joy in Iraq or Afghanistan for those individuals most in favour of intervention, women, gays and so on. I wonder if the blogger from Baghdad is still around?
Posted by Jost on October 13, 2006, at 22:39:00
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming (or not)** tealady » Jost, posted by Declan on October 13, 2006, at 2:35:37
Such a good question, Declan.
I wonder how we can find out.
Jost
Posted by Declan on October 14, 2006, at 0:57:34
In reply to Re: It is heartwarming (or not)** tealady » Declan, posted by Jost on October 13, 2006, at 22:39:00
http://weblogs.about.com/od/bestofblogsdirectory/a/salampax2.htm
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