quote: Afghan officials said U.S. troops were blameless.
quote: "I think this incident happened because of the explosives that were kept in that house and I think there were many other weapons in that house," Faiz Mohammed Zalan, foreign affairs spokesman for Paktia's governor, said in an interview.
quote: "We try very hard not to kill anyone. We would prefer to capture the terrorists rather than kill them," the U.S. military spokesman said. "But in this incident, if noncombatants surround themselves with thousands of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and howitzers and mortars in a compound known to be used by a terrorist, we are not completely responsible for the consequences."
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
Despite the very biased domain name, I'm willing to give the military the benefit of the doubt on these recent deaths. As inhumane as it sounds, a half dozen here or there cannot reasonably be unexpected, especially when the enemy isn't playing "fair."
Some things are more inexcuseable, however, such as using clustered munitions in populated areas (Iraq). Again not exactly a neutral link, although they give a pretty balanced look at the violations on each side.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Part of what we get blamed for in Afghanistan is actually a part of their culture that leads to this. Afghanistan has been a point of interest for me since the 1980s and it continues to be.
The first thing to realize is that Afghanistan has some of the trappings of the modern world, but as a whole, it is far from it. And, for most of the population, that is the way life is. It is not a choice, it just is.
Life, in Afghanistan throughout its history, has been cheap. It is a hodgepodge of tribal groups intermixed throughout its very rugged terrain... tribal groups that do not like each other. Warfare between these groups has gone on for millenia and will continue to do so. Why the feuding? Who really knows anymore, but children are raised to count their friends on one hand and their enemies on the other.
The only times the Afghans aren't fighting against themselves is when there is an outside force invading their territory. Alexander the Great came up against it, the Indians came up against it, the British left their dead in the Khyber Pass and the Soviets found their own Vietnam in that mountainous terrain. The US, however, did something no one else had done, they let most of the fighting be handled by the Afghans. We didn't turn brother against brother, but simply encouraged the normal proclivities there.
So, we have men born of brutality in the region that makes it so difficult. But that's not the only factor here, it is a whole lifestyle of almost all the inhabitants. Kipling once warned British troopers that as they lay dying in the Afghan passes the terror caused by the howling Afghan warriors would pale in comparison to what would happen at nightfall as the women would come down to the battlefield with their long knives to scavenge the dead and finish off those who were just wounded. It's not a pretty thought and not very politically correct, but it still holds water.
And what of the children raised within this world? We tout environment over genetics in the raising of children, but what of children raised in this lifestyle? They are raised to become as their parents, they will proudly become as their parents... if they survive. You see, outside of the cities, and even somewhat there, life is cheap and children are expendable. Horrid thought that it is to us, it is not so to them, it is just life.
If you had been born into the culture of Afghanistan in the 1980s, with constant guerilla warfare, you'd be lucky to be alive and unmaimed today. You might have a dozen siblings, but only three might still be alive 20 years later. It hardens the soul and cheapens the butcher's bill. And when you have children, you grow to accept that only a quarter of them might reach adulthood, thanks to warfare or lack of medical care or a shortage of food or accidental wanderings into long-abandoned mine fields.
But you still have the requirement of the Mujahadein, the warriors of the people. You carry your AK, you take turns servicing the crew-served weapons your local warlord has obtained. You retain a old RPG-16 and rockets for it in the back room of your home, along with a crate of mortar rounds and spare ammo. Your children play with their dolls on top of the crates. You delight in handing your toddler son your AK and have him parade for your friends among the militia.
Life is, was and will be brutal for the Afghans. Children will die as their warrior parents return home at night to live among the "civilian" population, Coalition forces hot on their heels. We, the West, look at the civilian casualties and it tears at our hearts. For too, too many of the Afghans, this is just the way life is.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Just to add:
Don't get me wrong, I am not a sabre-rattler when it comes to Afghanistan. If anything, the lifestyle there, created by constant warring, sickens me. But, sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.
I'm going to give it a bit more thought and put in what I think should be done. I'd really like the challenge any and all to do the same. How do you remake Afghanistan to be a place where women, children and men can live out their lives in peace and have the freedom to accomplish whatever they want to in life?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"'I think this incident happened because of the explosives that were kept in that house and I think there were many other weapons in that house,' Faiz Mohammed Zalan, foreign affairs spokesman for Paktia's governor, said in an interview."
I'd like to point out that there IS a distinction between "Afghans" and "foreign affairs spokesman for an American-supported governor."
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
And your meaning is?
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :