World-News

While the current occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq look to be part of an ambitious plan of US domination of the Muslim world, both are proving to be a much greater problem than their shadowy planners supposed.

http://counterpunch.com/walberg05282008.html


From Information Clearing House



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=opium

Britain's commanders ignored every warning that the Taliban were the toughest fighters on earth.

http://tinyurl.com/ysbprf


From Information Clearing House

Twenty years ago today the tanks and armoured cars started to rumble north out of Kabul as the Soviet Union began its withdrawal from Afghanistan after eight-and-a-half years of war.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7402887.stm


From Information Clearing House

U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston said the level of complacency over civilian killings was "staggeringly" high and a great many deaths could be avoided.

http://tinyurl.com/5ymvpk


From Information Clearing House



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=civilian+killings

Two dead as thousands protest deadly Afghan raid

They said they were protesting against the killing of three civilians by foreign occupation forces during an overnight raid.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/world/Afghanistan/10212226.html



US operation sparks Afghan unrest

The east Afghan region of Nangahar has seen violent protests after US forces raided a house, killing three people, arresting nine and seizing arms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7394319.stm


From Information Clearing House

About 3,000 Afghan politicians and intellectuals criticised Thursday the international military campaign against Islamic militants in Afghanistan and called for dialogue to ending the fighting.

http://tinyurl.com/4czd2n


From Information Clearing House

The Associated Press: "The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave. The Taliban, whose fighters are exchanging daily fire with the Marines in Garmser, derives up to $100 million a year from the poppy harvest by taxing farmers and charging safe passage fees -- money that will buy weapons for use against US, NATO and Afghan troops. Yet the Marines are not destroying the plants. In fact, they are reassuring villagers the poppies won't be touched. American commanders say the Marines would only alienate people and drive them to take up arms if they eliminated the impoverished Afghans' only source of income."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050708O.shtml



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=opium
http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=poppies

Stabilizing Afghanistan will need an international commitment lasting a generation, the general who has just spent more than a year commanding U.S. occupation forces there said on Tuesday.

http://tinyurl.com/43vl8d


From Information Clearing House

In der großen Koalition gibt es Überlegungen, das Thema Afghanistan-Einsatz der Bundeswehr aus dem Bundestagswahlkampf 2009 herauszuhalten. So soll das neue Afghanistan-Mandat der Bundeswehr möglicherweise schon bald mit einer längeren Laufzeit und einer höherer Personalobergrenze ausgestatt werden. Zwar wies ein Sprecher von Verteidigungsminister Franz Josef Jung (CDU) am 29. April Berichte zurück, wonach bereits im Juni eine solche Entscheidung anstünde. Doch wurde sowohl vom Verteidigungsministerium als auch von der Unions-Fraktion auf ein verändertes Einsatzumfeld für die deutschen Soldaten hingewiesen. Die Linken kritisierten diese Pläne. Der Verteidigungsminister sei offenbar weder bereit, von seiner "verfehlten Afghanistan-Politik" abzulassen, noch ihre Folgen in einer breiten öffentlichen Debatte zu vertreten, so die Kritik der Linken. Sie forderten die Bundesregierung auf, ihre "wahltaktischen Zeitspielchen" und "Vernebelungsversuche" zu beenden und sich öffentlich und verbindlich zu den Mandatsplänen zu erklären. Es werde versucht, "die immer tiefere Verstrickung Deutschlands in den Krieg möglichst unbemerkt über die Bühne zu bringen".

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?H=N&Nr=17866



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Franz+Josef+Jung

Karzai told the newspaper he wanted U.S. forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban members and their sympathizers, saying that fear of arrest along with past mistreatment were discouraging them from coming forward and laying down their arms.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080426/ts_nm/afghan_karzai_war_dc


From Information Clearing House



http://sharenews.twoday.net/search?q=Karzai