Nation Building, Bushista Style
Afghan Realities
"In Khost province Afghanistan a man cannot enter his brother’s home without first knocking. It is simply considered common courtesy. So, when an explosive charge is used to blow open a door in the middle of the night, it is, to say the least, rude.
As the smoke clears, the sleeping inhabitants of the house awake to the terror of men with machine guns storming in. They grab the husband of the household, drag him into the front yard, bind his hands and place a black bag over his head while his wife and children powerlessly look on with tears in their eyes. As the U.S. soldiers drag him off for interrogation it is uncertain as to whether they will ever see him again.
“This,” said Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki, a hopeful in Afghanistan’s 2009 presidential elections and an expert in Internal Development and Middle Eastern Studies, “has been the democracy, liberation and all the other rubbish you hear so eloquently from the U.S. government.”
(...)
Since the 2001 invasion, living standards have skyrocketed resulting in abject poverty. A sack of flour that could feed a family for a month is now beyond the means of most Afghanis, as a government employee who makes only $50 a month can no longer afford the $65 price tag.
“People are literally dying of hunger,” said Miraki . “I was in Kabul two weeks ago and people were selling their children so that they could have enough money to feed their other children.”
(...)
Currently, life expectancy for males is 45 and 44 for women with nearly 50,000 orphans roaming the streets. “Seven years have passed,” said Miraki . “Things have gotten worse. Afghanistan's American written constitution declares it an open market economy. In Afghanistan, the only commodities are life, death, blood, rape, killing, bombing: if these constitute commodities then it is really good market economy otherwise it is nothing of the kind.”
Coalition military presence has only complicated matters of human health. At present there is only one doctor for every 7,066 Afghanis whereas there is one foreign solider for every 742 Afghanis. “A country with absolutely nothing does not need soldiers,” said Miraki . “They need doctors, not bullets, rockets and land mines.”
Speaking of which:
US refused to sign landmine treaty
But it's not all bad:
Record Afghan opium crop floods world with heroin
"In Khost province Afghanistan a man cannot enter his brother’s home without first knocking. It is simply considered common courtesy. So, when an explosive charge is used to blow open a door in the middle of the night, it is, to say the least, rude.
As the smoke clears, the sleeping inhabitants of the house awake to the terror of men with machine guns storming in. They grab the husband of the household, drag him into the front yard, bind his hands and place a black bag over his head while his wife and children powerlessly look on with tears in their eyes. As the U.S. soldiers drag him off for interrogation it is uncertain as to whether they will ever see him again.
“This,” said Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki, a hopeful in Afghanistan’s 2009 presidential elections and an expert in Internal Development and Middle Eastern Studies, “has been the democracy, liberation and all the other rubbish you hear so eloquently from the U.S. government.”
(...)
Since the 2001 invasion, living standards have skyrocketed resulting in abject poverty. A sack of flour that could feed a family for a month is now beyond the means of most Afghanis, as a government employee who makes only $50 a month can no longer afford the $65 price tag.
“People are literally dying of hunger,” said Miraki . “I was in Kabul two weeks ago and people were selling their children so that they could have enough money to feed their other children.”
(...)
Currently, life expectancy for males is 45 and 44 for women with nearly 50,000 orphans roaming the streets. “Seven years have passed,” said Miraki . “Things have gotten worse. Afghanistan's American written constitution declares it an open market economy. In Afghanistan, the only commodities are life, death, blood, rape, killing, bombing: if these constitute commodities then it is really good market economy otherwise it is nothing of the kind.”
Coalition military presence has only complicated matters of human health. At present there is only one doctor for every 7,066 Afghanis whereas there is one foreign solider for every 742 Afghanis. “A country with absolutely nothing does not need soldiers,” said Miraki . “They need doctors, not bullets, rockets and land mines.”
Speaking of which:
US refused to sign landmine treaty
But it's not all bad:
Record Afghan opium crop floods world with heroin
posted by nolocontendere at 7:01 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home