"Allahu akbar!" - Latest death toll from Armpitistan

For those keeping score, Islamic extremists knocked off nearly five dozen less extreme Muslims in attacks in Afghanistan over the weekend. Better there than here! Now the details.

Item 1: A co-ordinated double suicide bombing hit beautiful downtown Kabul this morning (local time), killing 25 people and wounding 45. Among the deceased were an AFP photographer and a cameraman for a local TV station, as well as four cops. The attack was the latest in a string of deadly large-scale bombings and assaults that have struck the capital and other cities in the shithole country this year.

The blasts took place in the central Shash Darak area, the site of NATO headquarters and a number of embassies. The American embassy condemned the "savage bombings" and pledged continuing support for the Afghan "government" and people in their fight against terrorism. "Let us know if there's anything we can do to help," it said, "short of sending more than a few thousand troops back into the quagmire. One Vietnam in a century is enough."

Inspector Hassan bin-Sober of the Afghan police said the first suicide bomber was on a motor bike. The second attacker was on foot, pretending to be a journalist and mingling with the crowd of reporters that had rushed to the scene of the first attack. He then detonated his explosives, sending the journos and himself to the Muslim Paradise. "I saw journalists covered with blood, this time they targeted the media," a taxi driver named Mohammed told surviving meeja types. "When the explosion happened, everywhere was covered with dust and fire, it was so horrific scene" with bodies and body parts "thrown about on the street and the pavement."

Item 2: A couple of hours later, a suicide car bombing in the southern province of Kandahar killed 11 children. An Afghan official who gave his name as Mohammed said a suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy in the district of Daman, but succeeded only in killing children from a religious school located by the roadside from where the explosion occurred. 16 people, including 5 NATO soldiers [Any Americans? Ed.] and 2 cops, were wounded.

The US embassy and NATO refrained from pledging further support or from making any comment at all. Which group of jihadis was responsible for the dastardly attack remains unclear, as no-one has stepped forward to say "We did it! We killed a bunch of kids!" However, the local ISIS affiliate and the more firmly established Taliban carry out regular attacks around the country, with the Taliban usually targeting the government and security forces and ISIS targeting members of the country's the Shia minority, whom the affiliate perceives as apostates.

Walt says (for the second time in one post), better there than here. Rather than wasting billions of dollars and the lives of NATO troops trying to referee the Muslim civil war, let `em duke it out, as long as they do it in their own arena!

FURTHER READING (added 1/5/18 - MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!) - "'Failure strategy': How NATO won the Afghan war - and then lost Afghanistan", CBC commentator Murray Brewster's review of Operation Medusa: The Furious Battle That Saved Afghanistan from the Taliban, by Maj-Gen. (Ret'd) Dave Fraser, Royal Canadian Army. Excerpt: "There is, however, a larger cautionary tale being told in this book about political hubris — one the Trudeau government should heed as it prepares to plunge the country into a new peacekeeping mission in Mali...."

Going after Taliban was a mistake, sez former general

A lot of Americans (and Canadians) think that the Canadian Armed Forces kind of let the side down by withdrawing their half-dozen aging CF-18s from the US-led mission against ISIS. When it comes to fighting Islamic terrorism (their argument goes) the Canucks will hold your coat until your nose starts to bleed. This is not true. Let me set the record straight.

True, the government of Jean Chrétien declined to join in Dubya's invasion of Iraq, presumably because they thought it was a huge mistake but (being Canadian) wewre too polite to say more than "We'll take a pass on this one. Maybe next time." The wisdom of this decision is apparent in retrospect. If you don't find it so, take a look at Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. You'll find a link to the full-length documentary in "Republican voters: WATCH 'Fahrenheit 9/11'!", WWW 17/2/16.

All the same, the Canadian government took a lot of flak -- figuratively speaking -- from within and without the Great Not-so-white North. So much so that when the Paranoid States of America decided to go into Afghanistan to chase after Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they decided they'd better get into the scrap to make up for missing the first round. Little did they know that they'd have to fight not just al-Qaeda but the Taliban, since the Taliban controlled huge swathes of Armpitistan, including Kandahar province, one of the toughest targets. Sure enough, that's where the Canucks wound up. They lost proportionately more soldiers than the USA, beginning with four killed by "friendly fire" from the USAF. Some friends, eh!

Major-General Dave Fraser (seen here getting a gong from former Governor-General Michaëlle Jean) commanded both the Canadian task force and the expanded mission of the "Coalition of the Willing" to extend the authority of former Afghan president Krazi Karzai beyond the capital of Kabul in 2006. That was just over 4 1/2 years into the Afghan war and three years into the larger, bloodier struggle in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Today, in an interview marking the 10th anniversary of the Canadian deployment into Kandahar, Maj-Gen. Fraser had some rather astonishing things to say about the commission. He told Canadian Press that the West made a mistake deposing the Taliban regime in the aftermath of 9/11, and should have simply trained its guns on al-Qaeda. "We thought, naively, that regime change was the solution to the problem," he said. "Looking backwards, I would have actually left the Taliban government in power and said (to them) 'Stay out of the way. We’re here to find Al Qaeda. And as long as you stay out of the way, the special forces will go in there, they will do what is necessary to get Al Qaeda and we will leave.' Had we done that, we wouldn’t be where we are today."

Back then, no-one seemed to appreciate how profound the power vacuum was, he went on, and that the West was creating for itself "a 30- or 40-year problem" not only in Afghanistan but throughout the Middle East.

Maj-Gen. Fraser said the West has only repeated the same mistakes over the last decade. "We repeated it in Iraq," he told CP. "In Libya, we didn’t put any ground troops in and we created an even bigger mess because there’s no government whatsoever in Libya. We went back into Iraq and now for the very first time the international community is beginning to appreciate that regime change is not the solution. [That's] why we’re not pushing to do a regime change in Syria."

Right. Has anyone told the Prez, the Pentagon and the folks at Foggy Bottom about this? To take Maj-Gen. Fraser's argument to the logical conclusion, which is... wait for it... that Western meddling in what is basically a Muslim civil war is only making things worse for the people of the Middle East, and for the West as well? Has anyone learned anything from the events of the last 10 or 20 or 25 years? Errr, apparently not.

Footnote: Is Michaëlle Jean's ADC looking at her chest or what? Whatever happened to Her Serene Highness anyway? Last we heard she was swanning around Paris as the UN's "special ambassador" for her native Haïti. Is it possible she finally went home to share the misery of the poorest state of the Western Hemisphere? Errr, apparently not.

Starting this week: another dumb war America can't win

"I don't oppose all wars.... What I am opposed to is a dumb war." So said then-state-senator Barack Hussein Obama in 2002. Presumably that's why the his government has now confirmed that it will pull out of Iraq at the end of this year, having spent nearly 800 billion dollars -- $800,000,000,000 -- and about 4500 American lives, and accomplished, errr, nothing except deposing a ruthless dictator and replacing him with, errr, next to nothing.

Meanwhile, another dumb war continues in Afghanistan. According to Arianna Huffington's book, Third World America, Obama's presumably much smarter surge in the summer of 2010 cost a mere $33,000,000,000. For what? Admiral Michael "Moon" Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the goals of the surge included not just defeating the Taliban but "reducing corruption, making local government work and, eventually, providing jobs."

"Talk about mission creep!" says Ms Huffington. "Is that why we are still fighting a war there nine years later -- to provide jobs for the people of Kandahar? It's like a very bad joke!... The Obama administration is ramping up a multibillion-dollar program that will create a host of new jobs. The bad news is, you have to move to Kandahar to apply."

But wait (as Vince Offer would say), there's more! On Friday the Prez announced with pride a brand new military adventure: the deployment of 100 troops to Uganda [that's in central Africa, not far from the land of Obama's ancestors. Ed.] to hunt for Joseph Kony, infamous leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a fanatical militia that has killed an estimated 30,000 people over the past two decades.

All the more reason for a huge new US base in Libya (geddit?). And very useful for robbing Africa of the rest of its raw materials while denying them to the rising super-power, China.

But it's no biggie. It's only 100 "advisers". Well, OK, they are going to be armed, but they won't shoot first...maybe. What they'll be doing is crashing through the jungle -- it really is a jungle out there! -- trying to catch Joey Kony, who has managed to evade capture for something like 20 years. Some say he has magical powers or ointments that make him invisible, sort of like a darker Scarlet Pimpernel.

Yes, only 100 American troops...this week. But just wait. Walt's opinion? Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. Trust me, Hussein. This won't get you re-elected!

Karzai's time just about up

On July 18th, Walt predicted the imminent demise of Hamid Karzai, the so-called democratically elected president of Armpitistan.

This morning brings news from Reuters that Haidam Hamidi, the mayor of Kandahar city, was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday. Kandahar is the area recently vacated by Canadian troops, who, having succeeded in pacifying the Taliban/insurgents/crazy ragheads, went home. Some pacification, EH.

The assassination was perpetrated by yet another suicide bomber. No word yet about whether he had the bomb hidden in his turban. It comes just two weeks after the assassination of President Krazai’s brother, Wally, in the same city.

Reuters now says there's a power vacuum in Kandahar. Alas, no wall outlet into which to plug it. When will the Krazai guy join the others in paradise to be serviced by 72 virgins? Stay tuned!

Canadians quit; Kandahar reverts to Afghan type

Catching up on the latest news from Armpitistan. The Canadians pulled out of Kandahar province on time -- the "withdrawal method" in action -- and the chickens immediately came home to roost.

Kandahar was ruled, in theory and in practice, by Ahmed Wali Karzai, half-brother of democratically elected Afghan President Hamid Krazai. The Canadian forces in his fiefdom were criticized for propping up the murderous, thieving, corrupt scumbag, but Steve Harpoon's government said that without his strong presence on the local throne, things would get even worse.

No sooner had the Canadians left than Wally's presence turned into an absence, thanks to a case of lead poisoning administered by one of his own bodyguards. And who bribed the bodyguard to do the deed? Some say it was the Yanks wot killed Wally! If not, the Taliban would no doubt have done for him before much longer.

Having been too late to get AWK (as Wally was known), the Taliban got in on the action by sending forth a suicide bomber, who walked into the mosque where the obsequies were being held, and blew himself to little Talibanbits, along with five mourners. Fifteen others were wounded.

Kandahar City had now turned into a ghost-town, as national and "coalition" forces patrol the streets in huge numbers. Citizens are taking discretion as the better part of valour, remaining indoors. Shops are closed and life has pretty much come to a standstill, as everyone waits for the retaliation which is sure to follow.

Meanwhile the Canadian media are falling all over their politically correct selves with glowing wrap-ups of the "success" of the Canadian mission. "Journalists" on the scene in Kandahar are practically wetting themselves jumping out of the way of their own shadows, all the while singing the praises of the Canadian troops and the benefits of peace and democracy which they've brought to the armpit of the world. As Edna Krabopple would say, "HAH!"

157

Not quite a month since 156 comes news that a Canadian soldier, unnamed at the request of his family, has died in Afghanistan, in "a non-combat related incident".

The "incident" is under investigation. All that the Canadian command in Kandahar will say is that the soldier was not killed by the Taliban.

Next month, the Canadians are at last leaving Afghanistan. All except for a few hundred who will remain on a "training mission", much like the US advisors in Vietnam.

At the same time, the USA will begin its "drawdown" of 10,000 or so of its troops. So the scene shifts -- uneasily -- to Libya. Out of one sandpit, into another.

Time to rethink how America relates to the world?

The following editorial comment by Walt's old buddy "CZ" appeared in the Financial Gazette, a more-or-less independent newspaper published in Harare, Zimbabwe.

This week the world joined America in celebrating the killing of Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda leader whose organisation is blamed for the September 2001 bombing of America.

Primitive as he might sound, CZ honestly thinks real victory (the real “momentous occasion”) will only come when Washington reviews the way it relates with other peoples of the world, which right now breeds resentment and has resulted in the proliferation of militant groups such as al-Qaeda and others.

Even with bin Laden dead, Americans — with all their money and weapons — will still not be able to go to bed peacefully because of this inkling that somewhere in the darkness lurks a person who is plotting something against them. And they will still have to sleep with one eye wide open and always walk with their backs firmly to the wall. This is not how life should be enjoyed.

The fact that it has taken the Americans with all their sophistication 10 long years to kill the al Qaeda leader means that he received sympathy, if not direct support, from a lot of people around the globe and these people will continue to support anything anti-American whenever they can.

Beneath the patina of wide diplomatic smiles, there is a deep-seated anti-American feeling and it is only the Americans who can do something useful about it. Just listen to the deafening silence with which the Arab world received the news of bin Laden’s death.

That silence was pregnant with meaning!

Postscript: Reuters reports today that the Taliban have unleashed a spring offensive in Afghanistan, meant to exact a measure of vengeance for the death of bin Laden. Target: Kandahar, due to be abandoned by Canadian forces in July.