banner

Afghanistan

 

Page Links

Afghan Facts

Doha Agreement

Raab on the line

Afghanistan Falls

Betrayal in Afghanistan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afghan Facts.... supplied by the CIA

 

The key to understanding Afghanistan is this - it is not a country harbouring terrorists, it's a place where terrorists are harbouring a country.

Geography: Pile of rocks west of Iran. They say (the historians) that in the 15th century Herat was the centre of the universe, the heart of Asia. This was the place to see and be seen for A-list celebs back in the day.afghan map

Population: est. 30 million depending on which slaughtering warlord is in power. The Russians managed to reduce the population by 1.5 million. How many civilians have died since 2001 is a secret.

Age Expectancy: Only 2% of the population are 65 plus, so no pension problems to speak of.

GDP: est. $29 billion, i.e. about the same amount as Roman Abramovich has in a biscuit tin under his bed. A key part of the mix is services, e.g., reconstruction - the Americans build something, the Talibs blow it up and the whole process starts again

Key exports: opium, opium, more opium, soap, and terrorism, and yes, precious gems - sent direct to a Swiss safe deposit box.

Government: doesn't have one, except in Kabul, where this year's President hides in his palace. According to the Taliban, Afghanistan doesn't need politics because it's got Islam, which obviously transends all else - obvious to anyone who feels at home in the 7th Century.

Economy: doesn't actually have one, lots of camel trading goes on among a loose coalition of stall holders but 50% of the population are unemployed and if you include all the kids who would work, if there were some, instead of sitting around waiting for the school to be re-built and pretending they would go, if there was one, the unemployment figure goes up to around 85%.

Statistics: what the outsider needs to understand about Afghanistan is that everything is an estimate, simply no one knows anything. The CIA Fact Book page on Afghanstan is shorter than the one for the achievements of New Labour.

Future Prospects: nil. Afghanistan is geographic space occupied by a number of tribes who don't like each other and like outsiders less. The only thing Afghans dislike more than outsiders is a Talib but since Talibs will cut your feet off for not walking backwards on alternate Tuesdays, no one's prepared to complain about their unreasonable behaviour. Afghans do not want the Taliban but neither do they want western style democracy, they want MP3 players and plasma TVs but not crazy ideas like education and equality for women; they want corruption and fraud, they want to be just like western democracies without the charade of elections every four or five years.

Politics

 

In December 2004, Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan. He served until 29 September 2014. He was the first democratically elected leader of the country.

In April 2014 a curious election took place, 20.7 million voter cards were distributed. Afghanistan had a population of 27 million, half under the voting age of 18. Work out the legitimacy of this election for yourself. No matter, worse was to come. See Doha Agreement

Betrayal in Afghanistan

28/08/21


Around 1500 Afghans have been left behind by the UK and the US as the regime changes run away from a job never done. A lunatic with a bomb killed 170 people at Kabul airport, so much for the Taliban handling the perimeter security. President Biden said: “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.” The final passenger flight took off today. Those left behind have been told to make it to a third country. Bonkers Johnson says he will “shift heaven and earth” during the second phase to get everyone out and the head o the armed forces, Gen Sir Nick Carter, said it was "heartbreaking" they had not been able to rescue everybody.

Update: Biden's revenge swung into action, a drone strike killed several innocent Afghan civilians, Sunday 29.

 

UP

 

 

 

 

 

Blast-it Home

Citizen Guides

The Doha Agreement

On 29 February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement (officially titled the "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan") that provided for the withdrawal from Afghanistan of "all military forces of the United States, its allies, and Coalition partners, including all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel" within 14 months (ie., by 1 May 2021).

 

Afghanistan Falls, is anyone surprised?

 

US military forces quit Afghanistan, leaving the Afghan forces to keep the Taliban at bay, without air support. The whole of the Nato cooalition combined could not keep the Talibs at bay without US air support. US intelligence assessment concluded that the Afghan government could fall within six months of the American military departure. So much for US intelligence, it took about six days.

Iraq, Lebonon, Afghanistan all left in a worse state following intervention from the West. What a waste!

Update: Dominic Raab says “no one saw this coming”. He was just back from his Greek holiday, he was on the beech when Kabul fell.

 

Raab on the line

 

The Taliban were just about to take Kabul, our Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, was too busy to speak to his Afghan counterpart, to ensure support for Afghans who have worked for UK forces. Yes, he was too busy on his sun lounger in Crete. One of his juniors was given the job but didn't make the call. The Foreign Office says it "was not possible" to arrange the call before the Afghan government collapsed. That meant, before they ran away. Boris and his crew have been dodging the fact that the Foreign Office should have been making phone two weeks ago. Since it was obvious that the Taliban were back for good, after all, Trump told the Taliban they could have it – he just forgot to tell the Afghan government about it.
Mr Raab has rejected demands from opposition parties to resign. Confusingly Raab keeps putting out pictures on social media of himself on the phone. We think he is attempting to reassure everyone that he knows how to use the phone. Clearly, this is a ruse, who in their right mind would want to talk to him?

UP

 

 

© Kendosan 2009-2022