My appearance on Canadian talk show to discuss the Afghan war

[Master Khan]

I watch the whole show , Good points about Pakistan .

[khushal]

Ghaznavi,
These guys are experienced debaters and I have to say you did a very good job.

The popularity of the insurgency is about questioning the legitimacy of the government. If the insurgency is not popular and the people hate them then this whole drama should not be 9+ years long and every expert has publically said they can not see the light at the end of the tunnel. The government is filled with warlords that originally created the environment that gave rise to the Taliban. If there is a military solution to this then why is america in its longest war and again no light at the end of the tunnel.
The Haqqanis are thugs, What about the thugs in the afghan government.
He does not see the logic that killing people will make the insurgency more popular, the insurgency is spreading and expanding not contracting.
This soldier author that has done 2 tours is living in his fantasy book. Where is he getting this casualty figures from. The casualty of Nato is Increasing. If the ANA is getting better and more independent than why is america increasing its troop size.
My final statement to these idiots "You were an ambasodor to afghanistan, and your incompetence have endangered the afghan civilians, canadian and US troops. Your advise has already been followed and we are in this mess now.

And most importantly, your hair, is almost as good as mine.
Dera manana

[Alchemist]

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

No Combat involvement from NATO, stricter pull back dateline and Negotiation with Taliban.

The problem with such debates is that the rhetoric in it is predetermined. You seemed to have agreed on the main point which was that International Presence is key to Afghanistan's survival, and you also agreed that improvements had been made. Over all you were pushing your own "story" (i.e, pashtuns are marginalized) and you were challenged on all other counts...then you had to agree with Captain Ray that the Taliban are crazy yahoos who intimidate their own. This is the problem with "educated" afghans such as your self...how can you expect the NATO commanders to negotiate with the Taliban if even you don't trust or believe in them as being your own people. No gorilla force would survive without the support of the peoples of the population. Over all your argument was futile and self contradicting. James made a much better argument...I would have said what he said ...I wouldn't have EVER said that "night raids have been EFFICIENT"...

You failed to attack the problem at the root...you should have questioned the presence of NATO...and instead of bringing the discussion on what mattered, you tried to push Obama's rhetoric..."Negotiate with the insurgents" ...there have also been reports that the Taliban have DENIED every claim of "negotiation". Their mandate is clear... drive out the invaders like the way the drove out the Soviets. The former ambassador also pushed Obama's policy by saying that "the reason for stalemate is Pakistan"... you seemed to have agreed with 90% of what was said. Instead of talking about the context of the war...you were more concerned with the strategy for the war...how they should kill Afghans...excuse me..Taliban. Context, in the way James was discussing in the first minute of the interview ... maybe you should have just let him do the talking. Why should any casualty be tolerable? You should have challenged the ambassador on his nonsense poppy claim...poppy harvest was completely eradicated under the watch of Taliban in 2001!

In any case... I don't blame you. When in Rome do as the Romans do ..right?

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

I’m just curious what makes a Canadian-Afghan be Pakistani mouth piece against his own country? It does not take a brain surgeon to discover mullah Omar and Taliban are paki proxies and yet you want them inside afghan secularity forces. I guess you can take a tribal person out of tribe but can’t take tribalism mentality out of him.
Does Taliban represent Pashtuns? The reason why there is war in Afghanistan is b/c Pakistani will not allow a stable and strong afghan state…the day Pakistani are made to stop using terrorism as arm of her Afghan policy….it will be end of Taliban.

bachem, what are you gonna do about it?

you dont think I know that the Taliban at its higher leadership has been thoroughly infiltrated by ISI?

What are you gonna do about it? Rely on speen foreign troops to kill your own fellow Afghans because of who theyre armed by to resist?

do you realize the only reason the ISI can exert the control they do over the Taliban is because they are the only means by which the Taliban can resist. So if there was no need to resist, the Taliban would not be between a rock and a hard place the way they are, thus making them succeptible to ISI machinations

You think this issue is all about Pakistan, everything can be boiled down to that? its convinient for you, because that way we;re not talking about permanent US bases and Northern Alliance monopolization of political and financial power

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

No Combat involvement from NATO, stricter pull back dateline and Negotiation with Taliban.

The problem with such debates is that the rhetoric in it is predetermined. You seemed to have agreed on the main point which was that International Presence is key to Afghanistan's survival, and you also agreed that improvements had been made. Over all you were pushing your own "story" (i.e, pashtuns are marginalized) and you were challenged on all other counts...then you had to agree with Captain Ray that the Taliban are crazy yahoos who intimidate their own. This is the problem with "educated" afghans such as your self...how can you expect the NATO commanders to negotiate with the Taliban if even you don't trust or believe in them as being your own people. No gorilla force would survive without the support of the peoples of the population. Over all your argument was futile and self contradicting. James made a much better argument...I would have said what he said ...I wouldn't have EVER said that "night raids have been EFFICIENT"...

You failed to attack the problem at the root...you should have questioned the presence of NATO...and instead of bringing the discussion on what mattered, you tried to push Obama's rhetoric..."Negotiate with the insurgents" ...there have also been reports that the Taliban have DENIED every claim of "negotiation". Their mandate is clear... drive out the invaders like the way the drove out the Soviets. The former ambassador also pushed Obama's policy by saying that "the reason for stalemate is Pakistan"... you seemed to have agreed with 90% of what was said. Instead of talking about the context of the war...you were more concerned with the strategy for the war...how they should kill Afghans...excuse me..Taliban. Context, in the way James was discussing in the first minute of the interview ... maybe you should have just let him do the talking. Why should any casualty be tolerable? You should have challenged the ambassador on his nonsense poppy claim...poppy harvest was completely eradicated under the watch of Taliban in 2001!

In any case... I don't blame you. When in Rome do as the Romans do ..right?

I understand where you come from, but you also have to understand when a long haired bearded Pashtun named Abdul Rahman Karim goes on tv, never mind getting harassed later by intelligence i am not concerned about that, but it becomes very easy to dismiss me as some muslim fanatic

and thus the points i could raise become dismissable

and yes, i pride myself on being pragmatic and diplomatic, so thats how i carry myself

having said that, i can easily claim and support the following

1. yes absolutely afghanistan needs the help of the intl community

2. yes absolutely there have been improvements. inconsistent, grossly inefficient considering the resources etc. but i was in afghanistan during the taliban era. bro, there have been improvements.

3. wrora as i told the gentlemen, the pashtun marginalization is a combination of pashtun sympathy for the taliban, taliban intimidation, and northern alliance power. so i acknowledged that there is sympathy. will you acknowledge that in some areas, some Talibs have no support of the people and are intimidated?

4. having spoken with afghans/non afghans from afghanistan recently, yes night raids have been "efficient" in security terms. im not applying a judgement or a moral arguements. im simply describing the reality. the recent intensification of the war has had an effect. enough to make continued combat operations feasible? no. enough to have a long term effect? no. but there have been short term gains

5. if you want this war to end, do you discuss the historical errors in going in to Afghanistan (hell, I dont think they ever should have went it in the first place), or do you discuss strategy so we can concieve an end result? lets be practical wrora.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

thank you very much brothers and sisters for your feedback and encouragement.

i didnt mention anything on this site before the show because i wasnt too sure if i wanted to identify myself.

but i dont care now, im amongst my people.

Ghaznavi,

And most importantly, your hair, is almost as good as mine.
Dera manana

actually wrora, in the spirit of honesty, i must say, i had a HORRIBLE HAIR DAY that day. my hair failed me, it didnt have the layered curls on the side the way it usually did, so dont judge me just yet

:d

[torkham]

Karim Jan you did a fantastic job. Debating with a panel made of a solidier, writer, journalists and an ambassador with their egos, biases, hidden agendas - many of us would not have had the right words, the rights answers or the eloquence at the right moment under the pressure of a televised debate. and at a young age, well done.

[khushal]

4. having spoken with afghans/non afghans from afghanistan recently, yes night raids have been "efficient" in security terms. im not applying a judgement or a moral arguements. im simply describing the reality. the recent intensification of the war has had an effect. enough to make continued combat operations feasible? no. enough to have a long term effect? no. but there have been short term gains

.

Night raids are actually an obstical to Nato declared goals. When night raids are performed, there will be some if not many male members of that household that will want to join the Taliban because the community will give them "peghor" if they dont do something to protect their "ghyrat." If they dont join the Taliban, they will have sympathy for the Taliban and they are losing the hearts and minds, which is the real battle here. Remember each household has close reletives that will also be obligated to take vengence(badal), "vengence of the afghan" wasnt made up in a fairy tale, this is reality.
Why do you think they beg pashtuns to join the ANA and the pashtuns reject this proposal. Why do you think that some pashtuns join the ANA and then fire on NATO personel.
This stratagy of trying to break the will of the pashtun has been applied before many times, it has never worked.
Night raids work in favor of the Taliban in short term, medium term, and in long term. Karzai is no idiot when he calls an end to them.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

thank you very much brothers and sisters for your feedback and encouragement.

i didnt mention anything on this site before the show because i wasnt too sure if i wanted to identify myself.

but i dont care now, im amongst my people.




actually wrora, in the spirit of honesty, i must say, i had a HORRIBLE HAIR DAY that day. my hair failed me, it didnt have the layered curls on the side the way it usually did, so dont judge me just yet

:d

You did great. Regarding that fellow that touted NY Times coverage, do not hesitate to dismiss the NYT coverage as you can note that this same paper backed Judy Miller and continues to give John Burns a platform. Judith Miller was instrumental in building the fabricated case against the Iraq war and the NYT had to apologise not too long ago for her extensively biased and poorly researched work. Burns is a mouthpiece for the military and is unabashed by it.

Regarding the claim of the Taliban being a fringe group, here are 2 high impact factor articles from different times during the last decade that question this viewpoint:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...1578-2002Jan15

Refugees from Afghanistan's Helmand province disheartened at U.S. presence

Note the key quotes from the villager in the second article that certainly identify that he holds the US responsible for civilian casualties and views them as a greater aggressor.

Finally, regarding Alchemists and your discussion of folks of different strokes who support the insurgency for different motivations, here is an article from the Times of London that appears to support your view that folks are involved for various reasons:

http://freedomsyndicate.com/fair0000/times0045.html

I am sorry to hear that CSIS gave you even the slightest bit of trouble.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

No Combat involvement from NATO, stricter pull back dateline and Negotiation with Taliban.

The problem with such debates is that the rhetoric in it is predetermined. You seemed to have agreed on the main point which was that International Presence is key to Afghanistan's survival, and you also agreed that improvements had been made. Over all you were pushing your own "story" (i.e, pashtuns are marginalized) and you were challenged on all other counts...then you had to agree with Captain Ray that the Taliban are crazy yahoos who intimidate their own. This is the problem with "educated" afghans such as your self...how can you expect the NATO commanders to negotiate with the Taliban if even you don't trust or believe in them as being your own people. No gorilla force would survive without the support of the peoples of the population. Over all your argument was futile and self contradicting. James made a much better argument...I would have said what he said ...I wouldn't have EVER said that "night raids have been EFFICIENT"...

You failed to attack the problem at the root...you should have questioned the presence of NATO...and instead of bringing the discussion on what mattered, you tried to push Obama's rhetoric..."Negotiate with the insurgents" ...there have also been reports that the Taliban have DENIED every claim of "negotiation". Their mandate is clear... drive out the invaders like the way the drove out the Soviets. The former ambassador also pushed Obama's policy by saying that "the reason for stalemate is Pakistan"... you seemed to have agreed with 90% of what was said. Instead of talking about the context of the war...you were more concerned with the strategy for the war...how they should kill Afghans...excuse me..Taliban. Context, in the way James was discussing in the first minute of the interview ... maybe you should have just let him do the talking. Why should any casualty be tolerable? You should have challenged the ambassador on his nonsense poppy claim...poppy harvest was completely eradicated under the watch of Taliban in 2001!

In any case... I don't blame you. When in Rome do as the Romans do ..right?

You have to remember that it becomes inordinatly hard to speak truth to power when you are the ethnic group against which a superpower has declared war. Remember Vietnam? It was not Vietnemese Americans that were out there making in impact on stopping that war. It took men like John Lennon and others to really make the impact. That was supplemented by the huge factor of a conscripted army, not the all volunteer force of today that shields the populace from war.

In White America (and Canada) folks like George Galloway can visit and lambast the government... but even they are threatened with action and investigation by the Norm Colemans of the world. For that matter, look at the pressure on Assange. Moreover, look at human nature. Tunisia only erupted after the key ingredient of being economically disenfranchised (gasoline) met with the other component of being put upon by the US backed Ben Ali regime (the match).

The brother is at the level of trainee in his field and is not even at the power level of an Assange or a Galloway or a Lennon.

For that matter, even when speaking with complete moral clarity, you are thrown out of the scene. Dr. Paul has reminded the American people time and time again about the golden rule of doing unto other nations as you would want done to yours. However, he was eliminted from the debate platform during the republican primaries.

In the least, this allows Canadians to stop, if even for a split second before they resume their standard thought processes, and wonder if they are being told the whole truth.

[parsiwaan]

Ah I just knew you would come slithering back and throw out another red herring. And India is our friend? Iran is our friend? Tajikistan is our friend? Dostum is our friend? Najib was our friend?

What upsets you is that you know your agenda is assinine. You are the reason that everyone runs to the arms of Pakistan. Do you really think we would prefer Fahim and rest of his filth to our own?

You can call it whatever you want. You are absolutely correct when you note that we have an instant loathing to any stupid government you set up where the body is Tajik and Uzbek and the face is more of a sell out donkey than a Pashtun.

In that case there is no need for Afghanistan, enough is enough...if instead of a capable non-pashton you people wants to see a donkey who happen to be pashton to rule then you can have your Pashtunistan...with your taliban rule. We will never allow a return of pakistani dogs barbaric Taliban...hopefully taliban return will cost the creation of Khorassan free of tribalism and bigotry.

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

In that case there is no need for Afghanistan, enough is enough...if instead of a capable non-pashton you people wants to see a donkey who happen to be pashton to rule then you can have your Pashtunistan...with your taliban rule. We will never allow a return of pakistani dogs barbaric Taliban...hopefully taliban return will cost the creation of Khorassan free of tribalism and bigotry.

bachem,

boro yak "capable non pashtun" yof ko, find me one please

[parsiwaan]

Do you not get that a Mehsud, or a Bajauri, or an Achekzai from across the line is as Pashtun to us as we are? Do you not get that I would a thousand times over pay fealty to a Yusufzai on the takhth than an ass like Fahim?

We certainly wont bow to India or Pakistan... but we are not ignorant enough to walk into the snake pool cess pit with Spanta, Fahim, Dostum, and the likes of them.

bow to Pakistan? That country is your god, who create, supports, fanciness and run Taliban? Go read your "brother" Owais Ghani then CM of Balochistan interview where he state Pakistan has a colony—Taliban run Afghanistan. Basically your saying you rather be a Pukistan colony then have non-pashton in gov. Well then screw Afghanistan…we are beating a death horse.

[parsiwaan]

and it is america, the people who created this war which are aware of this fact yet pump 10s of billions to pakistan. pakistans dual alliances are aware to anyone with half a brain, but its america who allows its child to play these games.

lol did the egg come first or the chicken? Forget Pakistan its was and is our enemy...what makes me surprise is when a Afghan-Canadian with long hair(wonder what taliban would do to him seeing his hair?) and suit and tie sings Pakistan line like a canary.

[sahil112]

you stood your ground very well, well done 2 u wrora