"American forces enter uneasy alliances with tribal strongmen in Afghanistan; Practice raises questions among some US officials" by Karin Brulliard, Washington Post | August 1, 2010
NOW RUZI, Afghanistan — Haji Ghani is an illiterate, hashish-producing former warlord who directs a semiofficial police force. In this Taliban nest west of Kandahar, he is also a key partner of US forces.
Yeah, he is a "former" drug-dealing warlord, but he is OUR "former" drug-dealing warlord, so he's ONE of the GOOD ONES.
At least, today.
Tomorrow?
Depends on the agenda the war-promoters need.
Never mind that the district governor says Ghani, 44, works against him, or that US soldiers describe him as godfather-like and his police as vaguely crooked.
Yeah, NEVER MIND that!
And I notice ALL SOCIETIES seem to be the SAME!
Only the STANDARD of LIVING is different!
In an area rife with insurgents who stalk soldiers’ every move, Ghani’s militia has carved out a 4-square-mile bubble of tranquillity. Farmers can safely collect US-funded seeds, and children will soon attend a new American-backed school.
Yeah, it's a real success story.
“What’s his is ours. What’s ours is his,’’ Lieutenant John Paszterko said of Ghani, a onetime anti-Soviet commander who now rules his tribal forefathers’ lands. “He’s a good friend to have.’’
I'm sorry, Afghans. I was just hoping to keep mine and let you keep yours and maybe not so many people would have been murdered over lies, but that's me.
As coalition forces struggle to weaken the Taliban, they insist that the key to doing so lies in bolstering Afghan institutions. Yet with government rule confined to certain densely populated areas, US officials rely on strongmen who can maintain order in the most treacherous locales, even if their commitment to formal governance is dubious.
Then why did we overthrow Saddam Hussein?
Oh, right, WHATEVER PROPAGANDA the IMMEDIATE SITUATION CALLS FOR, yeah.
That inconsistency is causing unease in Washington, where Congress is scrutinizing payments of US tax dollars to warlords who protected NATO convoys, and in Kabul, where critics fear a US-backed plan for village defense groups could spawn rogue militias or undermine government authority....
Related: U.S. Paying Taliban For Protection
You know, I really don't see a lot of scrutiny -- or comment, even -- anywhere about that here in Amerika.
Also see: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: False Flags Flying High in Afghanistan
You mean the reporting may not even be real becau$e of you-know-what?
Oh, America, it is TIME TO COME HOME!!!!
The dynamic is present across this long-embattled nation, where former warlords are a dime a dozen and power is typically won with guns or money.
Okay, if that is true how are they "former" warlords, readers?
And the last part, about guns and money?
YOU SHOW ME the GOVERNMENT or SOCIETY that IS NOT BACKED by GUNS and MONEY and GET ME a PLANE TICKET!
Against that backdrop, Ghani is a minor player....
Then WHY the WaPo PROP PIECE, Amurkn newspaper reader!?
Related: Karzai Kin Agin
Oh, yeah, you don't want to delve too deep.
But....
BUT WHAT, WaPo?
Ghani’s land is a vast field of hemp used to produce hashish, which he insists he does not smoke.
Ghani says his wealth comes from his land, which he leases to farmers, and from the security services he provides to a Japanese company operating the large gravel quarry on his property. Gravel blankets the US outpost nearby — a gift from Ghani.
And your young men and women are dying for it, America.
Is that why you are there?
To prop up whoever decides to work with the empire and kill those that resist?
His partnership has been rewarded. US soldiers make sure his fighters have ammunition.
I'm sure that is helping to keep the "peace."
Flowing through Ghani’s carefully tended garden is a gurgling canal, a project recently completed by the US Agency for International Development that beautified a public park on his land. Outside, construction on the schoolhouse is almost done.
Meanwhile, back home, the country is LITERALLY falling apart and teachers are being laid off en masse -- although some will be "saved" by the benevolent government that lied to and looted you, America.
Yet Captain Paul DeLeon, commander of Combat Outpost Durkin, said the builders complain that Ghani beats them when he is dissatisfied with their work.
He's our guy!
And how about that "Combat Outpost" crap, huh?
We've LOADED the WORLD with them, America!
They are usually called BASES (or embassies) and we have HUNDREDS of them in HUNDREDS of COUNTRIES!
Farther west on Highway 1, Afghan army Captain Safi Ahmad said truckers complain that Ghani’s police demand illegal tolls and “torture’’ those who cannot pay. “By working with him, we’re essentially enabling him,’’ DeLeon said.
Hey, IF IT GETS the JOB DONE!
You know, WINNING Afghan HEARTS and MINDS!
NO WONDER the TALIBAN are EXPANDING and INCREASINGLY POPULAR!
They DON'T PUT UP with that CORRUPT HORSE S***!
But DeLeon and NATO officials said they hold out hope that Ghani and others like him will serve as links between the population and the government.
This is the guy in which we have placed our "hope?"
Will the DISAPPOINTMENTS never end?
--more--"
