Maligning the US over Afghanistan

Gerard Jackson
Melbourne: Australia
BrookesNews.Com
Wednesday 12 Feb. 2003

Pity the poor recipients of regime change is how Adele Horin sees the situation for the Iraqi people if America and Britain topple Iraq's brutal dictator (The Sydney Morning Herald 8/2). As proof that life after Saddam will be terrible for Iraqis she uses the alleged situation in Afghanistan to support her risible contention.

So how does Horin manage to conclude that life in Afghanistan was better under the Taliban? After all, she did not quote any Afghans saying they wanted the Taliban to return. There have been no demonstrations in favour of the Taliban. No riots caused by the presences of American or British troops.

Well, Horin has it that "80 per cent of Afghans who live in the rural areas in the grip off the warlords." How did she arrive at these statistics? She did not say. Leftwing ex cathedra statements are, however, par for the course at The Saddam Times (aka The Sydney Morning Herald) and readers should not wait for explanations. Typical of this approach to news is her statement that "For most Afghans the rulers the US installed or backed have been no better than the old ones."

Does America get credit for anything? Not a drop.

Although the anti-American Horin admits that we should not expect an "overnight miracle" she writes as if there should have been one.

It never takes long for anyone from The Saddam Times to reveal their hypocrisy and hatred of America and Horin is no exception to that rag's contempt for the truth. In her eyes 'The US rained down 26,000 bombs on Afghanistan in its "war against terror. It never did find Osama bin Laden.' (Horin conveniently overlooked thousands of food drops made by the US Airforce).

Read the above carefully: "rained down" suggests that there was a massive and indiscriminate bombing campaign. Something that only Chomsky would be demented enough to believe. Also note that she put the phrase "war against terror" in quotation marks, clearly suggesting that terrorism had nothing to do with the US removing the Taliban. As for bin Laden, maybe the Americans did not feel like digging through 50,000 tons of mountain rock to get his remains.

What we were not told is that thanks to the US most Afghan women and girls are getting the education that the Taliban denied them. Thousands of books have been provided and the US military had been building schools, none of which was mentioned by Horin. Sure things are bad and there are bound to be black spots, but they were damnably worse off under the Taliban. But the likes of Horin and The Saddam Times are not about giving America credit for anything. Spewing anti-American propaganda is more in their line.

Despite Horin's complaints to the contrary the US government is going to set up Joint Regional Teams in towns right across Afghanistan. It is planned that the teams will be manned by 60 or so military and government officials. The military will consist of Civil Affairs troops and special operations soldiers. The civilian side will include State Department officers and representatives from other coalition partners. The operation is apparently the Pentagon's brainchild.

Although the teams will be heavily armed they will also carry laptops, calculators, measuring tapes. Necessary tools for organising construction projects for the villagers and helping building contractors.

This is a photograph of US soldiers from the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion inspecting building progress on a new school in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan last September. It was taken by Staff Sgt. Derrick C. Goode, U.S. Air Force. It is the kind of photograph you will not find in The Saddam Times.