This, Or That

[liadnan]

From yesterday's Snowmail:

The Taliban are alive and well and still oppressing people in Afghanistan no matter what the British or Afghan governments might claim and tonight we'll show you the proof in the form of one incident caught on camera.

It all takes place in wilds of Helmand province - where thousands of British troops are being deployed to try to bring order and tackle the poppy fields. The Taliban in Helmand have been waging a campaign against education - burning schools, attacking teachers, terrorising all concerned.

An independent team working for Channel 4 News in Helmand got a tip off that such an attack was underway and went to film it in progress as a group of Taliban set fire to a school. Incidentally it is worth mentioning the Taliban were clearly Afghans and not foreigners from Pakistan as is often claimed by President Karzai.

While our team were filming the Taliban attack a group of Afghan armed police arrived to defend the school. Chaos ensued in which most of the Taliban got away, our team got beaten up and the school got burned. And this is the chaos our soldiers are walking into.

On the BBC website now:

Bush praises Afghanistan progress

US President George W Bush has praised the progress of Afghan democracy on his first visit to the country, where the US helped eject the Taleban in 2001.

On a surprise first stop of his maiden trip to South Asia, Mr Bush told Afghan President Hamid Karzai his country was "inspiring others".

Comments

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

*g*

Bush sees wht he wants to see. And he certainly doesn't want to see a resurgent Taliban rolling in drug money. Karzai doesn't even control all of Kabul right now, leave alone remoter parts of the country.

If you remember, Taliban has offered 100 kilos of gold to anyone who'd kill the Danish cartoonists - that amount of gold is not cheap to come by.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

To be fair he is probably right, Afghanistan is inspiring others. Just not in the way he intended.

[aliandrik.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed that as well. Between Jon Snow and Bush, I know who I'm believing.