http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/ Journalist based in Barcelona Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:29:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3554 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:36:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3554 I agree in an ideal world but in a country like Afghanistan…you’d be lucky…it is so factional. The British Government struggles doing consultations on some such simple things like windfarms. I would say that participatory development projects probably exist left right and centre across Afghanistan. Until you have a Government with any authority consultation is impossible.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3553 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:32:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3553 Well invaders no. But as we’re told over and over again, US forces and their allies are not invaders – they are liberators. In which case, yes, once they’ve done their liberating, they should put it to the population to decide what they want. Of course, US style “liberation” never ends – it’s perpetual war for perpetual peace.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3552 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:05:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3552 So invaders should do a consultation first?

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3551 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:02:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3551 I definitely agree that, as in all occupations that claim to bring “freedom and security”, the people of that country should be asked what they want. However, according to a poll of Afghanis by ABC News (below), most think the country is “moving in the right direction”. How reliable a poll sponsored by a mainstream news organisation is is open to question although they include details of their methodology at the end of the poll:http://abcnews.go.com/International/PollVault/story?id=1363276By the way Soft Mick, I’m not sure sending Prince Harry into one of the world’s biggest producers of heroin is such a good idea.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3550 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:46:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3550 I think to say the west needs to ask what the Afghans want…might be quite a task…and no doubt there would be huge conflict over it.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3549 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:29:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3549 you are of course quite right, troy, but can you think of a single example of u.s. foreign policy being shaped by the needs or wishes of the inhabitants of the country in question?

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3548 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:44:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3548 The biggest question left out of almost all discourse about Afghanistan is curiously enough,”What do the Afghans themselves want?”Seems rather simple to me, but as the West rides in with grand plans of setting up semi-secular “democratic” subservient state, it’s very possible that this is the last thing that the Afghans themselves want.I’m not so sure that they are tilted towards “extremist Islam”, but we must remember that this is an extremely tribal area. What “we” want just might not be exactly what “they” want.http://troyshouse.blogspot.com

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3547 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:17:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3547 Oh let’s not be all defeatist about this. Surely all the west needs to do is send Prince Harry back and he’ll sort out all these silly terrorists with a good dose of british common sense and stiff upper lip.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3546 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:52:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3546 It is riduculous to think that the allinace can win in Afghanistan. First of all, the country consisits of a gazillion caves that make it pausible to hide a 747 from any radar. Second, as Fisks notes, the colective consciousness of Afghans is heavily tilted towards Extremesit Islamism and these guys play no games when it comes to dealing with enemies. It is a difficult situation we have created here and with their little frineds in Pakistan with the big toys, this situation can really come undone.

]]> http://nicholasmead.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3545 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:39:00 +0000 http://nicholasmead.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-perverse-logic-of-afghanistan/#comment-3545 Geopolitically Afghanistan is very important…hence the Brits, the Russians, Pakistanis and the Americans have all wanted a piece and will continue to do so. It is a massively complicated state created by the British..another fuck up! I did my masters with a couple of Afgans..one was very much part of the Northern Alliance. Amazing to chat with him to gain an insight. Pakistan are so heavily involved.

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