In Afghanistan, NATO Now Committing Bald-Faced ‘Murder’

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http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/augstein-kolumne-afghanistan-krieg-ist-sinnlos-und-nicht-zu-gewinnen-a-893044.html

 

On Saturday, in northeastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province: American and Afghan troops battled their enemies. After several hours, as reported by The New York Times, the Americans called in air support.  The house of the opposing commander was to be destroyed. When it was all over, the Taliban are dead. And according to the provincial government, ten children also lose their lives. Five women were also said to be injured. This is the reality of the war in Afghanistan – a war in which the Bundeswehr is participating. A war that is completely nonsensical. Because by the end of 2014 it should all be over. The foreign troops will pack up their things and withdraw – the way a circus packs up and moves on when a performance is over. But this is no game. Truth be told, it is murder. Because a senseless war can be called nothing but murder.

 

There was a similar attack in February. On that occasion, five children, four women and a man were killed. Afghan President Hamid Karzai subsequently forbade his own security forces from calling in NATO air support. Bombs from the air bring an indiscriminate death. And ISAF had already determined that it would no longer target residential buildings.

 

But apparently, that is no concern of the Americans. ISAF troops, among them Germans, are waging this war based on a meaningless routine. It is no longer about a goal – about victory or defeat, or about anything at all. It is just a matter of killing time until the troops pull out. One day, at midnight, the fight will simply end. This is surreal. Only the dead who fall victim to this madness are real.

 

That is why this war cannot be won

 

Expressing outrage over this has nothing to do with naïve pacifism. Very few people have the wherewithal to be pacifists. It is hard to imagine morals stronger than those held by a true pacifist. Most people cannot tolerate the complete absence of violence. They believe in violence and find ways of soothing their guilty consciences. The worse the violence, the better must be the reason.

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How good must the reasons be to justify killing ten children? Perhaps there are such grounds. Perhaps there is someone who thinks he can make that judgment. But in this case, we know there are no such reasons.

 

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Who seriously believes that if one Taliban commander more or less is killed, it will make a difference for the future of Afghanistan? In this case, the individuals targeted by the Americans were called Ali Kahn and Gul Raouf. They allegedly organized attacks in the country’s mountainous northeast. According to everything we are able to read, these men are now dead. And now? Will the Kunar region now be more peaceful? Others will take the place of the dead, as it was in Afghanistan’s past. That is why this war cannot be won. That is why a date for the withdrawal of Western occupation forces has been set.

 

Every death is one too many

 

Everything is geared toward the withdrawal. ISAF troops are already trying to figure out how to get their stuff home. Not so easy with such poor infrastructure. If the withdrawal is to be accomplished on schedule, until the end of 2014, one container must to leave the country every seven minutes. The transit countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan will make a fortune allowing ISAF troops to retreat by land and through the air. Pakistan opens and closes its border to Western military materiel depending on its mood – and according to how many Pakistanis have just fallen victim to America’s drone war.

 

On the subject of German participation in the war, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder recently said in an interview with Spiegel: “The decision was the correct one at the time.” But “whether the entire deployment of more than ten years was correct can only be assessed later, perhaps even many decades later.” So far, this was Schröder’s most critical statement on the war in Afghanistan. But it wasn’t enough. Schröder would have done himself and the SPD a favor by expressing what in any case, everyone already understands: This war is lost, it is senseless, and everyone already knows it.

 

Each additional day of fighting is one day too many. Every death is one death too many, and it weighs on our collective conscience. We have made ourselves into accomplices to a crime. A few years ago, it was said that Germans should again become accustomed to war. It was said that this was the global responsibility of an economically strong and politically sovereign nation. At least in this respect we can say: mission accomplished! We got used to war again. The senseless deaths of ten children don’t bother us anymore. Now we know the meaning of global responsibility. Thanks for the lesson.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Afghanistan Times: Karzai is Right – Taliban are in the Service of America
Asia Times, Hong Kong: Karzai’s Curious Counterblast
Die Zeit, Germany: Unwarranted Pessimism Over Leaving Afghanistan
The Nation, Pakistan: U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan: ‘Please Don’t Wait Until 2014!’
FTD, Germany: The Beginning of the End for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan
The Nation, Pakistan: U.S.-Afghan-Taliban Talks Must Benefit Pakistan, Not India
Guardian, U.K.: U.S. Suspends Joint Military Operations with Afghan Forces

Telegraph, U.K.: Taliban Hit U.S.- U.K. Afghan Base; ‘Miss’ Prince Harry

The Independent, U.K.: Obama’s Foreign Policy of Reconciliation in ‘Tatters’

Frontier Post, Pakistan: Obama’s Drone War a PR Disaster for America

Der Spiegel, Germany: President of Dissapointment: How Obama Failed to Deliver

Frontier Post, Pakistan: Panetta Spills Beans: U.S. Handing Afghanistan to India
Thawra Al-Wada, Syria: Middle East Borders to Be Drawn in Arab Blood
Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia: A Method to Bush’s Madness?
The Frontier Post: Co-opted U.S. Media Will Always Blame Pakistan
The Frontier Post: Just Say ‘Thank You’ to Cut in American Aid
The Frontier Post: Letter to A.Q. Khan Resembles CIA Iraq War Forgery
Guardian, U.K.: Pakistani Generals ‘Helped Sell Nuclear Secrets’
Guardian, U.K.: Pakistan Hits Back at Mullen Over Journalist’s Murder Claim
Dawn, Pakistan: Even if U.S. Nuclear Accusations are True, Pakistan Broke No Law
Asia Times, Hong Kong: America Homes in on al-Qaeda’s New Chief
The Nation, Pakistan: CIA Chief Panetta Says Zawahiri Living in Pakistan
The Frontier Post, Pakistan: Obama Withdrawal Plans ‘Spell Doom’ for Pakistan
The Frontier Post, Pakistan: Karzai Finally Awakens to American Treachery
The Daily Jang, Pakistan: The Beginning of the End of U.S. in Afghanistan?

 

 

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