Nederland en Afghanistan 116

Terwijl Nederlandse militairen nauwelijks hun bases durven te verlaten, wint de Taliban steeds meer terrein. Nu buiten de steden de macht van de Taliban groeit, laat de NAVO bommerwerpers het werk doen, met als gevolg een toenemend aantal slachtoffers onder de burgerbevolking.

'Four civilians killed in NATO air-strike in Afghanistan.
KABUL: At least four Afghan civilians were killed and one was wounded in a NATO-led airstrike in eastern Afghanistan, a police commander said Sunday. The civilians were killed during a "mid-scale" operation launched this week against militants in Laghman province just east of Kabul, local police chief, Abdul Karim Omeryar said. "A house was bombed by NATO planes. I know four people were killed and one was injured -- they were civilians," the police chief told a news agency. He said intelligence reports indicated Taliban fighters were hiding in the house targeted by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) warplanes in the province's Alishing district. The interior ministry in Kabul confirmed the operation, codenamed "Western Hammer" but said it was investigating the civilian deaths.'

Zie: http://www.thenews.com.pk/update_detail.asp?id=14316

'Afghan president weeps for dead civilians.
Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai was reduced to tears Sunday during a speech in Kabul when he spoke of civilians being killed by terrorists from neighbouring Pakistan or NATO and US-led coalition forces during anti-terrorism operations.
Karzai, speaking at a gathering in the Afghan capital to mark the 58th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said that the Afghan people have suffered for the past three decades, recalling the invasion by the Soviet Union, the civil war and Taliban rule.
'Still today our children are dying. Hundreds have been killed, some of them by the terrorists and some in the fight against terrorists,' the president said.
Karzai recounted the story of a four-year-old Afghan boy left paralysed by a NATO airstrike in Kandahar.
'This nation and this country doesn't have the power to rescue itself. Neither can we tell the terrorists not to come from Pakistan, nor can we tell the coalition forces not to kill our children in the fight against terrorism,' Karzai said, adding in a breaking voice and with tears in his eyes, 'the oppression has gone beyond its limit.'
Nearly 4,000 people have died in Afghanistan this year due to the insurgency and anti-terrorist operations, including over a thousand civilians.'

Zie: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/
article_1231779.php/Afghan_president_weeps_for_dead_civilians

Ondertussen is er van werkelijke wederopbouw geen sprake. Misschien moeten Nederlandse journalisten eens een kijkje gaan nemen in Afghanistan. Als ze zich net zo onafhankelijk opstellen als Arnold Karskens dan kunnen ze met nieuws terugkomen. En wat zou een journalist anders willen dan zijn/haar publiek zo goed mogelijk te informeren?