Strange happenings in Afghanistan. Makes this Baby Boomer wonder what happened to the idea of supporting the troops in the combat zone. Strange also that these strange happenings do not get picked up by the social media radar. Only incidents where the USA or the West can be clearly shown to be in the wrong seem to be popular.
A few weeks back it was alleged that some copies of the Koran were burned inside an US military base camp.
All hell broke loose, the locals revolted, violence ensued, no doubt stirred up by the Taliban. When the dust eventually settled, we had been treated to the humiliating spectacle of the US president and senior military commanders making grovelling apologies to the Afghan government and religious leaders.
The Afghan government noisily made threats and demands as if their country was an important member of the G8 and not a failed state with an ineffective government barely hanging on to power by the good grace of the very forces they were threatening.
6 US soldiers were murdered, no apologies from President Karzai, grovelling or otherwise, just more demands and threats.
Then the terrible murders of 17 Afghan civilians by a lone US soldier. The deliberate killing of innocent civilians cannot be condoned and I am certainly not trying to make excuses for this soldier’s actions. But did the feeling that Afghan sensitivities were more important than American soldier’s lives tip him over the edge? We will probably never know.
This week, we hear that the US has paid $46 000 to the families of those killed in this incident and a lesser amount to those wounded. Yesterday 2 British soldiers and one from another NATO member were murdered by Afghan soldiers, the very people they are risking their lives to train.
Will the families of the 6 US, 2 British and 1 NATO soldiers killed since the Koran burning incident also get $46 000? I suspect not.
Will there be hand wringing expressions of sorrow from President Karzai? Not likely.
What messages do these one-sided actions send to our troops?
Where is the outcry from all the groups of “Human Rights” activists and assorted do-gooders who worked themselves into a froth over the merest hint that terror suspects might have been interrogated a little harshly or even tortured?
The Taliban must be laughing themselves silly at the ineptitude of the West. Eagerly making plans to relieve the grieving families of most of the compensation so hastily handed over. There is a very real possibility that a big chunk of all that US cash will be used to finance more suicide vests or IEDs to kill US and NATO soldiers.
The West did a good job with the shock and awe tactics after 9/11. Inflicting a serious blow to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, reducing the chance of more domestic terrorist attacks. Sadly thereafter the West has let the situation steadily decline until the current farcical situation where a shaky leader of a disunited collection of warlords and tribes is dictating the rules to the most powerful nation on earth and its allies.
History has proven time and again that military campaigns against ruthless terrorists do not succeed within the constraints of the Geneva convention. As long as the Taliban continue to execute, torture and intimidate the locals, no amount of “winning hearts and minds” apologies and compensation will change the outcome. The West has lost the initiative, if we do not have the resolve to use the same brutal tactics as the enemy ( I am not suggesting we should at this late stage), we are risking more of our soldiers lives and limbs for nothing.
Time to call it a day, let them get on with their centuries old tribal warfare. If and when they become a threat to our security in the future, then thump them hard with another wave of shock and awe, but this time leave them to pick up the pieces themselves.
Hard to equate the back pedalling of The USA and NATO in Afghanistan with the resolve the same groups showed to end WW2.
What has this got to do with Internet Marketing? Not much except it provides further proof that the world as we have known it is changing rapidly. We cannot depend on big business to provide jobs for future generations, governments to provide stability or life to get easier. To survive we have to take more responsibility for our own future.
One way to do that is to start a small Internet business, nurture it, persevere and watch it grow into something that will provide us with a worthwhile income.
Wishing you success in all your endeavours.
I think you have some valid points in this article. I’ve seen these stories unfold. It’s silly really. I’m told that the only reason they hate us over there, is that we’re meddling in their business to begin with. I agree with you. I say, just leave them alone and let them fight amongst themselves. That’s the way man has done for many many years. If they get too close to us, send them a few warnings, bombs, missiles, etc. Sounds cruel, but we can’t let them walk all over us. I have no issue with people celebrating religion, but when your religion infringes on my rights, there’s something wrong there. I say leave them alone and let Social Media bridge the gap. The more we learn about each other, the better off we’ll be. Informed people is the key.
I could not be more in agreement with what you recommend. We need to be able to build self sustaining enterprises and in today’s world they should be built online for as long as online remains available for us to use.
In so doing it is important to target a niche rather than a product. If you target a niche and the product fails then you will find pain relief quite easy from your loss because there are other businesses which are focused on the same niche which you can link arms with during such times.