Afghanistan

More details have emerged concerning the 21-22 August US airstrike on the village of Nawabad, the Azizabad area of Shindand district, reported in last month’s PN.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) human rights team visited the area immediately after the massacre, resulting in a statement by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan on 26 August: “Investigations by UNAMA found convincing evidence, based on testimony of eyewitnesses, and…

Afghan Women: Identity & Invasion is an important book that challenges prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions widespread even amongst many progressive peace and anti-war activists.

The academic and activist Elaheh Rostami-Povey shows how Afghani women, far from being just passive victims, have been historically struggling to improve their rights and every-day living conditions, even under the rule of the Taliban.

The focus of the book, however, is on the impact of the…

While much attention has been paid to the risk of a US attack on Iran, little notice has been taken of the escalating war in Afghanistan and the increasing danger of deeper US intervention in Pakistan. Britain is signalling the possible doubling of troop levels in Afghanistan, and is escalating aerial attacks, including with thermobaric weapons.
In mid-August the Taliban mounted “their most serious attacks in six years of fighting”, the New York Times noted, “including a coordinated…

There were many acts of remembrance around the country when the hundredth British soldier was killed in Afghanistan, names of the dead were read out. The occasion highlighted the enormous importance of Iraq Body Count’s work in collecting the names of non combatants killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. There are in contrast so few names of Afghans killed, there is no one doing an Afghan body count. Uncounted Afghan’s have lost their lives, and without their names who knows if they ever…

Defence Secretary Des Browne announced on 29 March that Britain should be willing to talk to the Taliban and consider negotiating with elements of the organisation.

However, as reported in the Telegraph, the US-UK strategy of relentlessly targeting experienced Taliban commanders – 200 were killed last year and 100 captured – has resulted in the disintegration of the Taliban old guard, leaving a political vacuum filled by young radicals.

This strategy has created a more radical…

Elsewhere in this issue we report the significant progress made by government propaganda in relation to the war in Afghanistan. Public support for the war is growing, despite - or because of? - the intensity of the conflict.

More people still oppose the war than support it, but the trend is worrying if the “Harry effect” is a lasting one.
Over the past two years there has been a conscious, systematic and well-resourced attempt to re-legitimise Britain's armed forces (and…

British public support for the war on Afghanistan has risen over the past two years, as Afghan political leaders call for negotiations with the Taliban.

In an ICM/BBC poll of 1,002 adults taken on 12-13 March, 40% of Britons expressed support for military operations in Afghanistan. This figure was up 9% from 31% in a September 2006 poll. However, opposition still outnumbers support though it is down from 53% to 48%.
Interestingly, most of the increase in support came from the…

Though a disproportionately white affair, the peace movement is a close relative of the anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-apartheid struggles that form a key strand in this wonderful selection from the Getty Images photo archive. As Paul Gilroy notes in the thought-provoking essay, while this is “not a book for black people only”, the history it marks out is, even now, one which “those who are complacent, powerful and indifferent to the suffering of Britain's minorities find easy to…

Following the “collapse” of the Taliban in November 2001, Afghanistan fell off the radars of most anti-war activists. Consequently, many of us have quite a bit of catching up to do - which makes the publication of Bleeding Afghanistan extremely welcome.

Written by two US activists whose work with the Afghan Women's Mission - a non-profit organisation raising funds and awareness for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) - pre-dates 9/11,…

Gordon Brown is succeeding with his first great spin campaign, appearing to distance himself from the aggressive policies of his predecessor while at the same time escalating his two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

YouGov found in early August that 73% of respondents think the new prime minister is not as close to US president George W. Bush as Tony Blair was, and 57% think Brown has got the relationship with the US “about right”.

At the same time, according to the Sunday…

Reports have suggested that Tony Blair is considering the legalisation of poppy production in Afghanistan to undercut the Taliban, reduce the production of heroin - and produce painkilling opiates which are in short supply globally. (The US is committed to crop-spraying from the air, which creates poverty and bitterness against the West.) A pilot project is apparently to be tried in Helmand province.

It is hard to believe that, just ten years after the genocide in Rwanda, new reports of massacres against Tutsis by Hutus have started coming in.

As PN went to press more than 150 Tutsi refugees were reported to have been macheted and shot by a Hutu during a raid on a nearby Burundian military base.

As Peace News went to press the 2004 Olympics had just kicked off.

Like music, sport is often said to be a great bridger of divides. It can bring…

As Ariana flight 404 from Dubai touched down at Kabul International Airport, its applauding passengers straining to locate family members among those standing on top of the arrivals building, Mosa Gholam personified impatience. And a little aggravation.

It might have been because he hadn't slept for a week. It may have been because he nearly missed the flight after a fellow returnee with an incorrectly named ticket nearly grounded the group in Dubai.

And of course much of…

Though they echo with the longings of the educated and wistful NGO worker, and are reminiscent of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 19th century “The Pen is mightier than the sword” speech, the title of this article represents the heartfelt wish of the Afghan refugee Jamila Abassy.

Jamila has just opened her second primary school in the Pakistan refugee camp where Hamid Karzais [leader of Afghanistans provisional council] - father was captured and killed by the Taliban in 1999.

Jamila,…

Just how much freedom have women in Afghanistan actually gained since the interim government was put in place late last year, and what is the prospect for real change for them to become citizens enjoying full - and lasting - rights? Rather than nearing successful completion, the fight by women's rights activists and groups to secure a better future for Afghan women is in reality just beginning.

There can be no doubt that life for our Afghan sisters has improved considerably since…