7,523 violators of residency, labor, and border security laws deported in a week    Video contradicts Israeli army account of deadly March 23 strike on Gaza paramedics    Saudi Arabia spends over $241 million to implement de-mining projects in 3 countries    Italy's Meloni government approves controversial security decree expanding police protections and penalties    Egypt submits new Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal: Report    'Everything is possible' — Ronaldo focused on titles, not 1,000-goal milestone after Riyadh Derby win    Saudi, US military leaders discuss enhanced defense cooperation in Riyadh    King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language launches program with Indiana University    Ronaldo brace powers Al Nassr past Al Hilal in Riyadh derby thriller    Ed Sheeran weaves Persian music into new song, Azizam    Al-Jadaan: Crown Prince's directives confirm government's ability to bring back balance to real estate market    Saudi Crown Prince, Iranian president discuss regional developments in Eid phone call    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Foreign investors are allowed to engage in real estate business outside Makkah and Madinah Commercial speculation should not be the purpose of real estate transaction    Aubameyang fires Al Qadsiah into King's Cup final with stoppage-time winner over Al Raed    Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry    Tesla sales plunge after backlash against Elon Musk    Danilo Pereira fires Al Ittihad into King's Cup final with dramatic stoppage-time double    Screen time in bed linked to insomnia, study finds    Mexico bans junk food in schools to fight childhood obesity epidemic    Sweet sales surge ahead of Eid as Saudi chocolate imports top 123 million kg in 2024    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Ayoon Wa Azan (Between the Hammer of the War and the Anvil of Corruption)
Published in AL HAYAT on 02 - 03 - 2010

The Western coalition forces finally took control of Marja, an area with a population of 80 thousand, half of which fled during the fighting. The troops of the mightiest military coalition in the world took a few weeks to capture an Afghan town and declare victory. Hence, these troops can, for instance, focus on Qandahar tomorrow and defeat the Taliban there and declare another victory.
Nevertheless, while the Western coalition led by the United States can indeed win battles, it cannot win the war. The victory in Marja or Qandahar or the entire Helmand province requires that the lands recaptured from the Taliban be held; however, this means that the coalition troops would have to stay on the battlefield on a long term basis, which is a difficult if not impossible matter. In truth, the Obama administration itself is not seeking a permanent presence in Afghanistan, and considers the war there to be a ‘war of necessity', or in other words, something compulsory that was imposed upon the administration. This is for example contrary to Bush's wars of choice, which led to America's economic and political demise.
The ruling coalition in the Netherlands collapsed because of the participation in the war, and the government announced its intention to withdraw Dutch troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, with the legislative elections drawing near next June. The question that arises here is: Will Germany and Canada follow suit and withdraw their troops, whose mandate in Afghanistan will end late this year?
This is all taking place while President Obama is asking the Western coalition countries to send additional troops to Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban. However, the war is unpopular in all these countries, with the exception of Denmark perhaps where it is supported by half of the population. The opposition to the war might also increase with increasing casualties, as the control of a medium size town led to many additional casualties for NATO in recent weeks. Last week, figures and numbers showed that American deaths in Afghanistan exceeded one thousand soldiers, while Britain has so far lost 264 soldiers, Canada 140 soldiers, France 40 soldiers, Germany 34 soldiers, and Denmark 31 soldiers.
These figures must have also increased since the day I compiled them before the weekend. The opposition to the war in each of these countries mentioned above thus reflect these countries' losses in the battlefield. This prompted the U.S Defence Secretary Robert Gates to warn that the opposition to the war both politically and at the popular level in Europe might be misinterpreted in Afghanistan and the rest of the world as a sign of weakness, which might lead to miscalculations and aggression.
This is true; however, each war, as I read one day, is popular in the beginning. The Afghanistan war has been ongoing since 2001, which means that the United State's involvement there is twice as long as its involvement in the Second World War, without any signs of a near end to this war in the horizon.
The coalition forces can provide the people of a town like Marja with many services that the Taliban cannot, or do not think about, such as schools and hospitals. However, victory in the battles cannot be achieved without a price: the missiles fired by drones happen to kill civilians along with those targeted, and we heard that in the Marja battle, 12 civilians, mostly children, were killed in a raid, while three other civilians were killed in a different raid. However, the news of the civilian casualties are quickly buried, and only the news of the assassination of Baitullah Mehsud in a raid in Waziristan last August remain, or that of the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar recently, and other Taliban leaders afterwards.
These are important achievements, and so is the cooperation between the Pakistani military intelligence with the CIA, which also led to a return to communications between Pakistan and India, after the intelligence services of the former were accused of involvement in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
These all are positive steps. However, winning hearts and minds, like the Americans want, is difficult, especially when the Afghan people finds itself today between the hammer of war and the anvil of corruption by the American-backed government which caused Afghanistan to be placed at the bottom of the worldwide Corruption Perceptions Index.
Perhaps the reader will recall how the Afghan parliament rejected cabinet members in Karzai's government time after time, on corruption allegations. I also recently read that one billion dollars (in cash) are smuggled each year to the Gulf through the Kabul airport, mostly ending up in Dubai. It thus seems that the rulers of Afghanistan do not sense that they will remain in control of their country, and for this reason, they are looting it so that if they have to flee one day, they will manage to live comfortably abroad.
In the meantime, President Hamid Karzai's audacity seems to know no boundaries: following the massive controversy stirred by the allegations of vote rigging in the presidential elections, President Hamid Karzai rewrote the election law in a way that removes significant oversight of the elections, and reduces the United Nations oversight of any future elections. He also gave himself the right to appoint the members of the electoral monitoring commission, or in other words, became himself the plaintiff and the judge, in a country without an efficient judiciary; in fact, the Americans are actually sending experts to establish courts in the provinces.
The end result of all of this is that the Afghan people are suffering from collateral damage, or friendly fire, on the one hand, and a regime that is corrupt to the bone on the other hand. The coalition may indeed win battles, but it cannot win the war.
[email protected]


Clic here to read the story from its source.