AFGHANISTAN

“The real goal of the invasion was vengeance for 9/11. All the promises of liberation and democracy were just a PR-ploy to make Americans feel better about seeking revenge.”

Sonali Kolhatkar

“In the parts of the country with the heaviest concentrations of US/NATO troops, Afghans are frequently rounded-up, detained, tortured, bombed, or shot by foreign troops just as in Iraq.”

Sonali Kolhatkar

“The fighters that are called the ‘Taliban’ are actually a mix of ‘former’ Taliban and newly enlisted Pashtun fighters trained in Pakistan. Many of them are just disgruntled Afghan civilians whose families and loved ones have been killed and/or tortured by US/NATO forces. Recruiting is always easy when you can show that foreign soldiers are killing more civilians that the ‘so-called’ enemy. But we should be careful to not glorify the resistance. It is strictly fundamentalist and would not be a good option for Afghans in terms of future leadership. The vast majority of Afghans are moderate Muslims who strongly disagree with the Taliban's extremist ideology, but they have joined the struggle to bring an end to the occupation.”

Sonali Kolhatkar

[Sonali Kolhatkar is Co-Director of Afghan Women's Mission, a US-based non-profit organization that works in solidarity with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). She is the co-author, with James Ingalls, of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (Seven Stories 2006).]

Afghanistan

Echoes of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan and
Alexander were found in tourquoise, opal and
Amethyst dreams,
Young vagabonds slept on Persian rugs
Beneath Heaven's green pastures far below
Tall Buddhas on Bamian's plains.
While bright on earth green grass grew under
Falling rain, above the sky lit up dark
Echoed man's last refrain:
'We hail the rains to bring us back to life;
We hail the rains to remove this mortal rule
of knife.' But thunder shouted and sirens cried,
People hurried, they fought and died.
Echoes of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan and
Alexander were found in tourquoise, opal and
Amethyst dreams,
Young vagabonds slept on Persian rugs
Beneath Heaven's green pastures
Far below tall Buddhas on Bamian's plains

By M. L. Squier

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!