Isn’t it amazing that ‘superpowers’ go on long and expensive misadventures only to end up doing what was straight and obvious to many in the first place?
For a long time many had hinted at the unwinnable war in Afghanistan. Russia, the remnant of the once mighty Soviet Union, has even been surprised a how the US is replicatigg their failed military strategy.
For Russia, it was a strategy which saw the Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan without much to show for her invasion save for the thousands of casualties and a badly bruised ego. In fact, it was not just an ego. The withdrawal itself marked what turned out to be the beginning of the end of the USSR.
It was not surprising that the ‘international community’ (read USA and NATO) met in London on January 29, with the Afghan leaders to work out an ‘Afghan-led political strategy’ that would end the conflict in that war-ravaged central Asian country. The invaders have been searching for an 'honourable' way out.
An Afghan-led political strategy, however, should not be one that is simply a masqueraded US-policy dictated to the Afghan people.
Rather, it should be homegrown and inclusive, giving careful consideration to the demographic and cultural make up of the Afghan people united towards national reconciliation.
Hamid Karzai might have taken a lead in that direction on December 3 when he said: "Personally, I would definitely talk to Mullah Omar. Whatever it takes to bring peace to Afghanistan I, as Afghan president, will do it."
The US knows that this is the only way out of the quagmire of an unwinnable war. Yet, such a bold policy turn-around will hardly be taken by the Barack Obama.
A president who won his the ticket on the back of a peace oratory that won him a Nobel Prize pledges to expand the war by committing more troops to Afghanistan while continuing to decimate Pakistanis using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The US claims to know how to separate the “good” Talibans from the “bad” ones. How that will be done remains to be seen. Such an attitude however seems to add veracity to the view that Barack Obama is a
certain one-term president.
By denying a general amnesty, Obama is missing an opportunity for turning his fortunes around without losing much face in Afghanistan.
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"Nadia...the Martyr...the Mujahida..."
You may have forgotten Nadia, the girl who was raped by the dogs of the occupation in the notorious prison Abu Ghraib, and to revive your memory, this is her story which she revealed; she did not throw herself in the arms of her family, like any aggrieved, oppressed prisoner would do, a prisoner with a fire inside longing for his family. Nadia ran away the moment she was released from prison, not because of the shame that will follow her, but because of what has happened to Iraqi female prisoners that were abused, raped and tortured at the hands of American mercenaries in Abu Ghraib prison, where the walls of the prison speak the sad and horrifying stories of the prisoners, but what Nadia tells us is not a “Story”…it is the “Truth". Nadia began her story according to Al-Wassat new paper “as I was visiting a relative of mine we were surprised that the American Occupying forces raided the house searching it to find a quantity of light weapons and because of that they arrested everyone in the house including me. And vainly I tried to persuade the translator who was accompanying the American patrol that I am just a guest, but my attempts failed. I cried and begged and I fainted from the intensity of fear during the road to Abu Ghraib prison. Nadia says "They put me in a dirty cell, dark and lonely and I expected them to set me free after the investigation proved that I had not committed a crime. She adds, tears spilling down her cheeks a sign of her sincerity and an expression of the horror she have suffered: "The first day was heavy and I was not used to smell the unpleasant odor as the cell was damp and dark and more from the fear that has been growing on me quickly. The laughter of the soldiers outside the cell made me feel more afraid, and I was terrified of what awaited me, for the first time I felt I was in a very difficult trouble entering a world of unknown parameters I will not get out of it as it entered. in the midst of this dilemma of different feelings I heard a female voice with an Arabic accent, a soldier in the American occupation army Immediately she said: "I did not think that arms dealers in Iraq are from women." Once I spoke to explain to her the circumstances of the incident she started beating me so harshly, I cried and screamed "God...I am Innocent...Innocent" Then the soldier began cursing and swearing at me, words I never expected to be heard under any circumstances, and then she started mocking me, telling me she watching me by satellite all throughout the day, and American technology that can track their enemies even inside their bedrooms. And then she laughed saying "I was watching you even when you were having sex with your husband." I said to her with a confused voice: I'm not married. she beat me for over an hour and forced me to drink a glass of water I learned later that it was mixed with a heavily sedated substance and I had not woken up only after two days to find myself naked, I knew immediately that I have lost something that nothing on earth would with all the laws of the land return to me, I've been raped.
HADEETH 04 Sayyidina Abbaas ibni Abdul Muttalib radhiallahu anhu reports that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said: THAT PERSON HAS TASTED THE FLAVOUR OF IMAAN; WHO IS PLEASED WITH ALLAH AS HIS LORD, WITH ISLAM AS HIS RELIGION AND WITH MOHAMMED AS HIS RASOOL (MESSENGER OF ALLAH). (Mishkaat) HADEETH 03 NONE OF YOU CAN HAVE (PERFECT) IMAAN UNTIL I BECOME MORE BELOVED UNTO HIM THAN HIS PARENTS, HIS CHILDREN AND ALL MANKIND. (Mishkaat) HADEETH 02
Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah radhiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said: IMAAN HAS MORE THAN SEVENTY BRANCHES. ITS MOST SUPERIOR BRANCH IS THE KALIMAH LAA ILAAHA ILLALLAAH AND ITS LOWEST (BRANCH) IS THE REMOVAL OF HARMFUL THINGS FROM THE ROAD. (Mishkaat) A handy book by Mufti Muhammad Salmaan Mansurpuri detailing the laws of Islam on cellphone use. |
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