Canadians say Afghan war unwinnable - Afghan war relentless on civilian death: UN
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Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:50:26 GMT
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Two out of three Canadians say a victory in Afghanistan is impossible.
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As new troops pack their bags to go to the war in
Afghanistan, a new poll shows that a majority of Canadians
say the eight-year conflict is not winnable.
The Ipsos Reid survey said on Tuesday that 66 percent of
Canadians disagreed that "the build-up of troops will
ultimately create a military victory over the Taliban."
Only 34 percent of Canadians thought the Afghan war was
winnable, the poll found.
The opinion survey of 1,038 adults was conducted on behalf
of Canwest News Service and Global National.
Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama ordered an
increase of 30,000 forces to the war-torn country. With the
extra troops pledged by NATO allies, some 150,000 foreign
troops will be stationed in Afghanistan in 2010.
Experts have warned that the new surge will lead to more
battles and a higher death rate among foreign soldiers as
well as Afghan civilians.
Canada currently has about 2,800 soldiers in southern
Kandahar province. Since 2002, 134 Canadian soldiers have
died in Afghanistan.
AGB/SC/DT
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Afghan war relentless on civilian death: UN
Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:09:30 GMT
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UN figures indicate a 10 percent growth in the civilian
death toll from the US-led war in Afghanistan with a good
share of fatalities caused by foreign forces.
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The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says
civilian deaths in the first 10 months of 2009 stand at
2,038, up from 1,838 for the same period of 2008 - that is
an increase of 10.8 percent.
The figures show nearly 1,404 civilians were killed by
Taliban-linked militants who are fighting to topple the
Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and to
drive out foreign troops.
UNAMA also indicates that 468 deaths were mostly caused by
NATO and US-led troops as well as 166 by "other actors."
More than 110,000 foreign troops are present in Afghanistan
as a planned surge of 30,000 more US soldiers and 6,800 from
other NATO member states by late 2010 makes the withdrawal
of foreign forces seem far out of reach.
The US Defense officials assured Kabul officials of more
care for civilians' lives in earlier December following the
announcing of a new US strategy for the war in Afghanistan
by President Barack Obama.
This is while 10 civilians, including eight school children,
were reportedly killed on Saturday in operations by US
special forces in the eastern Kunar province.
Earlier in the month, NATO forces killed six other
civilians, including a woman, during a predawn raid on a
village in the eastern province of Laghman.
MRS/SC/DT
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WFP shocked by killing of Afghan employee
Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:23:47 GMT
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WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran
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The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has condemned
the death of one of its staff members in southern
Afghanistan.
The Afghan national employee was killed in a bombing in
central Kandahar on December 24. Seven others were also
killed in the attack.
"I am shocked and saddened by this terrible loss," WFP
Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement on
Monday.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and
colleagues of this dedicated man whose courage and
commitment have contributed to our ability to provide food
assistance to the hungry in southern Afghanistan," she
added.
The identity of the slain Afghan man who was a warehouse
security guard will not be released for his family's
protection, the agency said.
AGB/SC/DT
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But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not. The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Cheney'sDick
in the Middle East is pointless and fruitless.
Because of the nature of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other such groups,
they cannot be defeated in the accepted sense.
Sure, they can be weakened and driven from a place, but they are
willing to wait-out their foes and return when occupiers withdraw and/
or turn a country over to its "government," which is like welcoming
back the terrorists and their civil wars.
As has been recommended:
(1) The U.S. needs to get its military OUT of the Muslim Middle East,
and bring our people home to protect and secure the once-United States
from incoming, infiltrating bad people. If this means profiling of
people on any grounds, so be it.
(2) Deploy our military in OUR hemisphere where needed to threaten
Iranians and other inimical foreigners who intend to do us harm.
Assassinate if necessary the Hugo Chavez's and Castros if they don't
abdicate in favor of democratic ideals and reform.
(3) Use the fruits of our military-industrial complex overseas SOLELY
to bomb and destroy -- from offshore -- terrorist strongholds and
leaders wherever our less-than-good "intelligence" and our allies
"locate" them.
We must accept that we are in a death-struggle with Islam, a misguided
and misled cult of crazy, inhuman, often illiterate leaders. Let's not
shrink from dealing with them as harshly as events dictate!
It would also be wise to try to convince Israel to depart their
mislabeled "homeland" to another, safer locale.
Nothing lasts forever. Including rigidly held foreign policy notions.