afghanistan

I had been through the Pentagon right after 9/11. About ten days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, "Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second." I said, "Well, you’re too busy." He said, "No, no." He says, "We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq." This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, "We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?" He said, "I don’t know." He said, "I guess they don’t know what else to do." So I said, "Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?" He said, "No, no." He says, "There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq." He said, "I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military and we can take down governments." And he said, "I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail."

So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, "Are we still going to war with Iraq?" And he said, "Oh, it’s worse than that." He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, "I just got this down from upstairs" — meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office — "today." And he said, "This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran." I said, "Is it classified?" He said, "Yes, sir."

Extracts from Afghanistan: the worst place on earth for children to be born and raised

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 2,777 civilian deaths in 2010, an increase of 15 percent compared with 2009, child casualties increased by 21 percent in the same period. UNAMA confirmed that more civilians were killed in Afghanistan in May 2011 than in any other month since 2007, with 368 conflict-related civilian deaths and 593 civilian injuries. As recorded by monitor Afghanistan has significantly more child casualties from mines/ERW (explosive remnants of war) annually than any other country.

Figures from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reveal that one in four of all refugees the agency deals with world-wide come from Afghanistan.

Family Environment

It is estimated that there are over 1.6 million orphans in Afghanistan, mainly due to the conflict in Afghanistan. However, lack of accurate data makes predicting the numbers of children and young people orphaned in Afghanistan difficult. Not only are these children deprived of family life, most will not know their date of birth, have no birth certificate and some will have seen their parents killed.

Health and health services

Two thirds of children are chronically malnourished, and among them, thousands suffer from acute malnutrition. The UNDP reports that 16 percent of babies die at birth and 25 percent before their 5th birthday. As reported by UNCIEF Afghanistan has the 2nd highest mortality rate for under-5s with only Chad in Africa having more children die per year before reaching their 5th birthday.14 The World Health Organisations data shows that 82,100 children living in Afghanistan die annually as a result of diarrhoea.

On 9th June the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) reported that "[a]t least 70 Iraqi refugees have been rounded up in the UK over the last few weeks", in preparation for deportation.

... As of 21st June, it seems that there will be 72 people on the flight... it is clear that the UK's government's insistence on undertaking deportations to Iraq flies in the face of advice from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which states that:

"Iraqi asylum applicants originating from Iraq's governates of Baghdad, Dyala, Ninewa and Sala-al-Din, as well as from Kirkuk province, should continue to benefit from international protection… Our position reflects the volatile security situation and the still high level of prevailing violence, security incidents, and human rights violations taking place in this part of Iraq."

"The UK government is aware of UNCHR's recommendations but does not share our assessment of the situation in Iraq."

Those due to be deported on the 21st June will all be transported to Baghdad. Individuals who have spoken with some of the detainees have stated that some of them are under the impression that they will subsequently have to make their own way to their onward destinations. This directly contravenes the UKBA's stated policy of "mak[ing] arrangements for those who require onward travel to their home towns, and this includes those travelling to the Kurdistan Region." [6] A number of those due facing deportation have reportedly said they do not know how they will get home; furthermore, several of those people being deported come from those very areas to which the UNCHR has advised people should not be returned.

When Obama took office in 2009, the U.S. had about 34,000 troops in Afghanistan. Obama has initiated two major troop increases in Afghanistan: about 20,000 additional troops were announced in February 2009, followed by the December 2009 announcement that an another 33,000 would be deployed as well; other smaller increases have brought the total to 100,000...

[Media] reporting also nearly universally excluded any mention of the 100,000 Pentagon contractors currently in Afghanistan, which double the U.S. military commitment there. Given the full context, it's hard to read a phased pullout of 30,000 out of 200,000 over the course of an entire year as a "rapid" withdrawal

Soon after the British deployment to Helmand, in summer 2006, there was a major escalation in the conflict. The following year witnessed a further deterioration in the security situation, and by 2008 nearly half the country was effectively a no-go area for the international aid community.

One academic paper by two members of the UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, notes that ISAF’s military operations since 2001 have “pushed” anti-government elements “towards active insurgency”. During the four years of 2001-05, evidence suggests that the Afghan population largely supported the government. In 2006-07 public opinion began to shift in favour of anti-government elements in unstable areas, and by late 2008 the population was voluntarily providing support to anti-government forces...

A confidential August 2009 report by US General Stanley McChrystal, at that time the overall military commander in Afghanistan, stated that “the overall situation is deteriorating” and that NATO faced a “resilient and growing insurgency”.

The Taliban now has ‘shadow governors’ in 33 out of 34 Afghan provinces, and a permanent presence in 80% of the country. The NGO Safety Office, which advises organisations working in Afghanistan, describes the Taliban as “a movement anticipating authority and one which has already obtained a complex momentum that NATO will be incapable of reversing”

General Dannatt said in May 2009 that Britain’s “military reputation and credibility, unfairly or not, have been called into question at several levels in the eyes of our most important ally as a result of some aspects of the Iraq campaign”. Therefore, Dannatt continued, “Taking steps to restore this credibility will be pivotal – and Afghanistan provides an opportunity”.

A confidential August 2009 report by US General Stanley McChrystal, at that time the overall military commander in Afghanistan, stated that “the overall situation is deteriorating” and that NATO faced a “resilient and growing insurgency”

British interests in the region are closely aligned with those of the USA:
“The entire region in which Afghanistan sits is of vital strategic importance to the United Kingdom,” stated the then Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth in July 2009.

UK Defence Minister Liam Fox MP has stated that a withdrawal of troops would “damage the credibility of NATO” and “would be a shot in the arm to violent jihadists everywhere, re-energising violent radical and extreme Islamism”.

General Dannatt said in May 2009 that Britain’s “military reputation and credibility, unfairly or not, have been called into question at several levels in the eyes of our most important ally as a result of some aspects of the Iraq campaign”. Therefore, Dannatt continued, “Taking steps to restore this credibility will be pivotal – and Afghanistan provides an opportunity”.

US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, confirmed in 2007 that “one of our goals is to stabilise Afghanistan... so that energy can flow to the south”.