Afghanistan: They're Back

Bush tells us a failed state in Iraq will give terrorists a safe haven and he won't leave "so long as I'm president. Meanwhile, Afghanistan (which was home to the 9-11 terrorists leaders) is falling back into the Taliban's hands, another unfinished Bush war. Bush turned his back on Afghanistan and got us into the fiasco in Iraq. Now both countries have become cesspools to breed more hatred. The Independent has several reports on how Afghanistan is doing. Return to Kandahar: The Taliban threat Nelofer Pazira, the journalist who starred in the film 'Kandahar', has gone back to the southern Afghan city for the first time in four years. There she found residents living in fear as Islamic insurgents extend their deadly reach still deeper into the country Published: 21 August 2006 Fear permeates Kandahar. Eyes watch every passer-by, every car. Everyone is suspect. People shrink away from me when I ask to interview them. They run when they see a camera. The few brave souls who agree to talk do so either anonymously or because they are desperate ............ "The Americans abandoned Afghanistan," says Mr Hikmat. "When they were around, people were making money. The Taliban had run away but they were not defeated and the Americans knew that too. Yet the US decreased the number of its troops." Then it was announced Nato would replace the US forces, a decision which encouraged the Taliban. People in Kandahar talk about a power vacuum of which the Taliban took full advantage. They had five years to organise and returned in force. "Now the Taliban are everywhere," says Alia, a nurse in Kandahar's Polyclinic Hospital. She returned from Pakistan four years ago in the hope of living and working in Kandahar and made her home in the Khoshal Mena neighbourhood, a short distance from the city centre. Read Article Here: Independent Taliban's terror tactics reconquer Afghanistan By Nelofer Pazira in Kandahar Published: 20 August 2006 "If we die, we are martyrs - if we live, we are victors," say the Taliban in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province. They have taken control of the area in less than two weeks. For, with ever accelerating speed, the Taliban are reconquering south-west Afghanistan from the government, American and Nato forces sent to fight them. ........ Meanwhile, the Taliban have issued a new law which they have posted on the walls. It says: "We have no courtrooms to take people for questioning. Judgment is made on the road - wherever an infidel is captured. The order is carried out immediately. The punishment for spying for the government and working with foreigners is beheading." In Helmand province, where the Taliban also control most of the area - except for the municipality - despite the presence of 4,000 British troops, a 70-year-old woman and her son were hanged by the Taliban on charges of spying for the government. Read Article Here: Independent TALIBAN MILITIAMEN IN AFGHANISTAN