Here’s a great video from Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan’s first post-Taliban rock group: Afghanistan’s first rock festival is soon to begin, and as Matthieu Atikins explains, the country is in desperate need of bringing old and new culture together in the war-torn country. And it’s a giant finger to those forces keen to keep the nation…
Showing all posts tagged Afghanistan
Welcome to lack of US transparency over wasted billions on disaster capitalism
Yes: The internal records of a congressionally mandated panel that reported staggering estimates of wasteful U.S. wartime spending will remain sealed to the public until 2031, officials confirmed, as the panel closed its doors on Friday. The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan was established by Congress in 2008 and spent three years…
We fight more battles but care little about those people in the firing line
Imperial nations love to fight wars – and Barack Obama has only increased the American military footprint – but it comes with a heavy cost (via ProPublica): Private contractors injured while working for the U.S. government in Iraq and Afghanistan filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Monday, claiming that corporations and insurance…
What happens when privatisation becomes the natural way of war
Profiteers and crooks love this world (via the AP): A man accused of running an illegal contractor spy ring in Afghanistan has resigned from the Air Force, still maintaining his innocence, and still facing possible criminal charges. Two investigations continue in a case that has tested the definition of what contractors are allowed to do…
So this is what “victory” looks like in Afghanistan?
Thuggery, criminality and in all likelihood illegality. And this is our side (via IPS): U.S. Special Operations Forces have been increasingly aiming their night-time raids, which have been the primary cause of Afghan anger at the U.S. military presence, at civilian non- combatants in order to exploit their possible intelligence value, according to a new…
Get in line, blood suckers; much money to be made in Afghanistan
War! Money! Capitalism! Exploitation! Yes, as Salon’s Glenn Greenwald writes, privatisation is bringing goodness to the peaceful land of Afghanistan: As the Obama administration announced plans for hundreds of billions of dollars more in domestic budget cuts, it late last week solicited bids for the construction of a massive new prison in Bagram, Afghanistan.… … Posted on…
Hiring private thugs in Afghanistan and hoping for the best
It’s so hard to see why the Western-led war in Afghanistan is failing miserably: An Afghan-owned security company accused of operating an illicit protection racket received “a slap on the wrist” from the Defense Department despite ample evidence of wrongdoing, according to a senior House Democrat critical of the military’s efforts to combat corruption in…
Are we training Afghan forces to torture and kill?
We are constantly told in Australia that our brave boys in Afghanistan are training the local army. A new Human Rights Watch report reveals the reality of so much Western training (some of which is privatised); corruption, torture and death squads is what we appear to be leaving behind, presuming we ever depart: Militias and…
Nothing like a good war that enriches the leeches
The list of private companies gouging America and its allies since 9/11 is long and dubious. For example (via Mother Jones): In 2007, US planners decided to pave a 64-mile mountain road between the Afghan towns of Khost and Gardez. They figured it would take $69 million to complete, but the cost swelled to $176…