Afghanistan

Has anyone noticed that Afganistan seems to be in the news a lot lately? Seeing the way that the PTB work, this can't be an accident. It must be for a reason. Somethings up, I fear, but I can't figure out what...

Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan represents a major shift in the country's 'traditional role' as peace-keepers in blue helmets. (a very romantic notion in the first place, to be sure, but it has never the less been the prevailing perception which Canadians have held of themselves until recently)

Since our military involvement in Afghanistan, it has consistently been used by our neocon PM Harper (who btw appointed a former military lobbyist as Minister of Defence) to promote militarism and an overall glorification of war.

More recently the 90th anniversary of Vimy gave the PTB an opportunity to draw (with great help from the media) links and similarities to between the 'valiant and courageous' efforts of our soldiers in Afghanistan trying to bring peace and freedom, while similarly and simultaneously glorifying the deaths and remembrance of those Canadians who died at Vimy Ridge.
The coverage went on ad nauseum, and coincidentally(?! I wonder about the timing) 6 Cdn soldiers died from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on the very day of the anniversary memorial ceremonies in France - Harper was able to vaunt the actions and sacrifice to killing and war once again.

I can only surmise that this particular place is serving very well to militarise Canada and brings us ever closer into lockstep with our southern neighbours. We are all part of the same zombie culture and this is like the proverbial last nail in the coffin....a nation at war is not something this generation of cdns. has identified with at all ....until now.

And surely it just wouldn't do (for the ptb) to have one solitary and very large country in the north with all the sea ice melting and us claiming our sovereingty over arctic waters and shipping lanes; to be of a mind or purpose contrary to supporting the status quo / acceleration of violence, et al.

That's my take on the recent prominence.

I can't emphasise enough what a tremendous shift is happening here, as far as a national 'self-perception' goes. The propaganda mind ^*(% effort is truly ramped up to a frightening level over the past 3 years north of the 49th parallel.

Scarier still is how readily digested it is.

This is from BBC - surprisingngly harsh - thought it would be good to save it before it dissapears - bolding mine

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34433302

Medecins Sans Frontieres said the number of its staff killed had risen from three to nine.

It said the strikes continued for more than 30 minutes after US and Afghan authorities were told of its location.

US forces were carrying out air strikes at the time. The Nato alliance has admitted the clinic may have been hit.

At least 37 people were seriously injured, 19 of them MSF staff. At least 100 patients were in the hospital.

Many patients and staff remain unaccounted for, MSF says.

The organisation says that all parties to the conflict, including Kabul and Washington, had been told the precise GPS co-ordinates of the hospital in Kunduz on many occasions, including on 29 September.

After staff at the hospital became aware of the aerial bombardment in the early hours of Saturday morning, US and Afghan military officials were again informed, MSF said.

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Jeremy F Kreuz said:

This is from BBC - surprisingngly harsh - thought it would be good to save it before it dissapears - bolding mine

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34433302

Medecins Sans Frontieres said the number of its staff killed had risen from three to nine.

It said the strikes continued for more than 30 minutes after US and Afghan authorities were told of its location.

US forces were carrying out air strikes at the time. The Nato alliance has admitted the clinic may have been hit.

At least 37 people were seriously injured, 19 of them MSF staff. At least 100 patients were in the hospital.

Many patients and staff remain unaccounted for, MSF says.

The organisation says that all parties to the conflict, including Kabul and Washington, had been told the precise GPS co-ordinates of the hospital in Kunduz on many occasions, including on 29 September.

After staff at the hospital became aware of the aerial bombardment in the early hours of Saturday morning, US and Afghan military officials were again informed, MSF said.

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Good catch. We've got RT's coverage up on SOTT: http://www.sott.net/article/303209-Hypocrisy-American-airstrike-in-Afghanistan-hits-hospital-kills-at-least-50-doctors-patients-and-civilians

The comments pretty much say it all. How's that for irony? Especially coming right now, when the very same people are making up stories about Russia killing civilians in Syria... All to cover up for the fact that Russia is actually killing their own jihadi mercenaries.

I suspect the truth is much more sinister. This was the only functional hospital in Kunduz, which had been treating up to 400 wounded in the last days. Who where these wounded? Most likely a significant amount were taliban fighters. Additional information indicates that a huge offensive of the Afghan Army with support of the US is planned for the coming days. With the destruction of this hospital two objectives are reached - removal of the last international observers/witnesses in town and no medical faciltity for the wounded fighters of the Taliban. The US has to take Kunduz back - for over decades Kunduz is the key town for the traffic of Heroin out of the country. It is no surprise that Kunduz was the first town to be taken by the Taliban - by taking it they cut the export line of the heroin out of Afghanistan. The upcoming battle is going to be brutal and better not have international witnesses around.

Note also the rare harsh critique of the ICRC (international red cross), an organisation that normally does not comment. In this case they have been very outspoken. This could indicate they too expect this was deliberate.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34435238

In a statement, the charity said all indications pointed to the bombing being carried out by international coalition forces.

It reported that from 02:08 until 03:15 local time, the hospital was hit by a series of aerial bombing raids at approximately 15-minute intervals.

The main central hospital building - housing the intensive care unit, emergency rooms, and physiotherapy ward - was repeatedly hit during each aerial raid while surrounding buildings were left mostly untouched, it added.

"The bombs hit and then we heard the plane circle round," said Heman Nagarathnam, MSF head of programmes in northern Afghanistan.

"There was a pause, and then more bombs hit. This happened again and again. When I made it out from the office, the main hospital building was engulfed in flames. Those people that could had moved quickly to the building's two bunkers to seek safety."

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emphasis mine

A US investigation won't do the job - MSF asks an independent inquiry from an international body.

https://www.rt.com/news/317612-msf-independent-investigation-kunduz/

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has demanded an independent international body investigate the suspected US airstrike that killed 22 people at a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The charity’s official said MSF cannot trust the US military probe.

"Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body," MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said in a statement on Sunday.

"Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient," he added.

The US military launched a probe into the incident on Saturday.

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If yesterday MSM was running the hospital attack as headline, it is dropping already from the radar, now that an independent inquiry is demanded.

Jeremy F Kreuz said:

I suspect the truth is much more sinister. This was the only functional hospital in Kunduz, which had been treating up to 400 wounded in the last days. Who where these wounded? Most likely a significant amount were taliban fighters. Additional information indicates that a huge offensive of the Afghan Army with support of the US is planned for the coming days. With the destruction of this hospital two objectives are reached - removal of the last international observers/witnesses in town and no medical faciltity for the wounded fighters of the Taliban. The US has to take Kunduz back - for over decades Kunduz is the key town for the traffic of Heroin out of the country. It is no surprise that Kunduz was the first town to be taken by the Taliban - by taking it they cut the export line of the heroin out of Afghanistan. The upcoming battle is going to be brutal and better not have international witnesses around.

Note also the rare harsh critique of the ICRC (international red cross), an organisation that normally does not comment. In this case they have been very outspoken. This could indicate they too expect this was deliberate.

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I'm wondering, if this military plane incident was really an accident or if it's tied in - some how - with the bombing of the Hospital? My line of thinking is, since Syria "is now - off limits" that there's a play for complete control of Afghanistan = to keep the War efforts going?

US transport plane crashes in Afghanistan killing 12
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11905990/US-transport-plane-crashes-in-Afghanistan.html


An American C-130 transport plane crashed at Jalalabad airport,Afghanistan, shortly after midnight on Friday morning killing twelve people, according to officials.

The city is close to the eastern border with Pakistan, an area prone to Taliban attacks.

The plane’s five-man crew died, according to a US military spokesman, along with five passengers, civilians contracted by the US-led coalition.

The C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop plane, has been used by the American military since the 1950s and has been a workhorse of its Afghanistan operations, carrying passengers or cargo.

Jalalabad airport is operated by the United States Air Force and is one of the bases used by American drones

The US has about 9,800 troops in the country and the numbers are expected to reduce further by the end of the year as it continues its drawdown, handing more responsibility to local forces.

Two Afghan civilians were killed on the ground, Col Brian Tribus told NBC News, adding that there was no hostile activity in the area at the time.

Horrendous! It's not like NATO and the US's reputation can go even further down the crapper. A news blackout seems to be only way to stop the public from making that connection.

Ruth said:

Horrendous! It's not like NATO and the US's reputation can go even further down the crapper. A news blackout seems to be only way to stop the public from making that connection.

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And thats what they will do. Since yesterday no "Russians in Syria" news on TV where I live. And all tv stations is owned by the US fences. I believe they will pursue that worldwide.

It's incredibly brazen and sad, especially because it provides the ideal contrast with what the MSM were propagandising hours earlier about Putin and Russia. If anything, it's difficult for many to ignore such hypocrisy, no matter how much it hurts their brains. I would hope this behaviour, if it makes it into their minds, will shock others in the west in similar professions. Because it seems most aren't bothered unless they can see directly how it could effect them.

There is another story unfolding and at least in Germany where Sputnik reported from a doctor, who doesn't like to be named and claims he is Afghan origin and a doctor not on duty during the said attack of the US. He claims, that all international doctors fled the hospital before and only Afghan doctors where left in the hospital. He further claims that the hospital was overtaken by the Taliban and taken then back again recently and that they treated Taliban soldiers from time to time too. To me it reads like damage control, that suddenly a doctor speaks that could justifies the attack, since they treated Taliban soldiers. What I don't know, why Sputnik is carrying this message if it is a lie.

http://de.sputniknews.com/militar/20151005/304728130/kundus-auslaendische-aerzte-verliessen-spital-vor-luftangriff.html

Gawan said:

There is another story unfolding and at least in Germany where Sputnik reported from a doctor, who doesn't like to be named and claims he is Afghan origin and a doctor not on duty during the said attack of the US. He claims, that all international doctors fled the hospital before and only Afghan doctors where left in the hospital. He further claims that the hospital was overtaken by the Taliban and taken then back again recently and that they treated Taliban soldiers from time to time too. To me it reads like damage control, that suddenly a doctor speaks that could justifies the attack, since they treated Taliban soldiers. What I don't know, why Sputnik is carrying this message if it is a lie.

http://de.sputniknews.com/militar/20151005/304728130/kundus-auslaendische-aerzte-verliessen-spital-vor-luftangriff.html

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I'm leaning towards the possibility that there may be a lot of truth expressed in that Report, Gawan. Awhile back, there was a report out of Gaza - that "Doctors-without-Borders" international Doctors happened to be "absent" when a make-shift hospital they set up was targeted and blown up. I'll have to look and see if I can locate the report again but it was like - 2 years ago. The initial news report did state that the hospital treated "everyone" without discrimination including the Taliban.

Here's another news idem - that Putin warned about - which the U.S. Military is continuing to practice ....

ISIL paying out large sums of money to recruits in Afghanistan: UN
http://iran-daily.com/News/127647.html


The ISIL terrorist group is making inroads in Afghanistan, winning over a growing number of sympathizers and recruiting followers in 25 of the country's 34 provinces by paying out large sums of money, a UN report said.


The terrorist group, which attacked some areas of Syria and Iraq, has been trying to establish itself in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban, AFP reported.

Afghan security forces told UN sanctions monitors that about 10 percent of the Taliban insurgency are ISIL sympathizers, according to the report by the UN's Al-Qaeda monitoring team.

"The number of groups and individuals who are openly declaring either loyalty to or sympathy with ISIL continues to grow in a number of provinces in Afghanistan," said the report.

Afghan government sources said "sightings of the groups with some form of ISIL branding" or sympathy were reported in 25 provinces in the country, it added.

Among the prominent ISIL terrorists, the report singled out Abdul Rauf Khadem, a former Taliban adviser to Mullah Omar, who visited Iraq in October 2014 and has since formed his own group in Helmand and Farah provinces.

Khadem allegedly has been recruiting followers by paying out large sums of money.

Foreign fighters from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, some of whom have close ties to Al-Qaeda, have come under the ISIL banner after fleeing their country and have "rebranded themselves" in recent months, the report said.

Afghan security authorities do not consider the growing emergence of ISIL as an "immediate increased threat" but they are keeping an eye on the situation as a "potential new threat", it added.

The UN monitoring team said ISIL had improved its propaganda in English in a sign of increased competition with the Taliban.

angelburst29 said:

Gawan said:

There is another story unfolding and at least in Germany where Sputnik reported from a doctor, who doesn't like to be named and claims he is Afghan origin and a doctor not on duty during the said attack of the US. He claims, that all international doctors fled the hospital before and only Afghan doctors where left in the hospital. He further claims that the hospital was overtaken by the Taliban and taken then back again recently and that they treated Taliban soldiers from time to time too. To me it reads like damage control, that suddenly a doctor speaks that could justifies the attack, since they treated Taliban soldiers. What I don't know, why Sputnik is carrying this message if it is a lie.

http://de.sputniknews.com/militar/20151005/304728130/kundus-auslaendische-aerzte-verliessen-spital-vor-luftangriff.html

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I'm leaning towards the possibility that there may be a lot of truth expressed in that Report, Gawan. Awhile back, there was a report out of Gaza - that "Doctors-without-Borders" international Doctors happened to be "absent" when a make-shift hospital they set up was targeted and blown up. I'll have to look and see if I can locate the report again but it was like - 2 years ago. The initial news report did state that the hospital treated "everyone" without discrimination including the Taliban.

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This really could be the case and maybe shows the corruption of this organization as well.