Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Pakistan The winners are the non-voters. "Khan claims he wants to ‘depoliticise’ the police and establish ‘law and order’ in a violent crime-ridden society; to ‘improve health and education’ through bringing health insurance to 70% of the population. Yet in no way is Khan sympathetic to the interests of Pakistan’s working class or rural farmers.  He is set to follow the dictates of the IMF as the ‘solution’ for Pakistan’s continuing economic failure.  And that means his policy ‘aspirations’ will never be met." It's not cricket See also Khan is only a player in the circus run by Pakistan's military

After Obama has "liberated" Malala Angelina Jolie, a woman coming from the heartland of the West and imperialism, is on a mission to "save and rescue" girls and women who are "unfit and cannot help themselves". She is also urging young people to "promote tolerance ." Tolerance ? Where was that "tolerance" when US imperilaism was invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and droning weddings, using torture and rendition, and orphaning girls and women?  Didn't she and her ilk tolerate those criminal actions?

A big setback for the "free world" and its long-time endeavour "to liberate and civilize" Afghanistan by bringing "human rights" and "prosperity" to its people. However, at least "we saved" a young girl and she is now an undergraduate at Oxford University.  Taliban threatens 70% of Aghanistan, the BBC finds

A student of Arabic thought that the word "madrasa" in the Arab countries was like the Afghan "madrasa". No. The Washington Post  reported  in 2002: The United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings …. The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system’s core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books …. The Council on Foreign Relations  notes : The 9/11 Commission  report (PDF)  released in 2004 said some of Pakistan’s religious schools or madrassas served as “incubators for violent extremism.” Since then, there has been much debate over madrassas and their connection to militancy. Promoting violence — in the form of jihad against the Soviet invaders and their local proxies — was the goal of the U.S.-funded education effort in

Malala: The West's Unsaved Others and Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

The Empire Stopper

"It was the deadliest single attack on a military installation in the entire 16-year history of the Afghan conflict." 170 Afghan soldiers killed. Last year a record number of Afghan forces were killed - 6,800 in total. That is three times the losses of American forces during the entire 16 years of this conflict."  — the BBC website

Afghanistan Surprise! Surprise! Recycling Hekmatyar, not mentioned here, but it is stated in the Arabic version of the article that he was supported by the U.S., including receiving money from the CIA through Pakistan.

Afghanistan When ones mentions Taliban, it seems that almost everybody has heard of them, but very few people would know how many times Western imperialist armies, and other armies, have interefed in Afghanistan, and the scale of destruction and instability those powers have left in the process. The British now have been defeated for the fourth time (incompetence of the "civilized to civilize" the recalcitrant? The Russians were also defeated, very badly. A defeat, let's not forget, that was helped by the Americans. The Americans and their allies have been defeated after the longest oocupation by the US imperialism, without establishing "peace", "democracy", or "liberating women", dogs, and the unfit in general. "For many decades during its recent past, when it was left alone, Afghanistan was one of the most peaceful and stable countries. History shows that what Afghanistan needs is less foreign interference, not more of it.&quo

A reminder How U.S. and Saudi Backing of Al Qaeda Led to 9/11 (The Washington Post) Related How the US fuelled the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) " The Good War? Afghanistan in the media ". Listen to columnist Seumas Milne from the Guardian newspaper (UK) speaking in a public meeting organised by Media Workers Against the War and Stop the War Coalition. (Friends Meeting House, London 13 July 2009). Ishmahil Blagrove, a filmmaker and public speaker, speaks about his recent attempt to enter Gaza, his arrest in an Isareli prison, and the aim of the trip which was organised by 21 activists from 11 countries including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Maguire, in order to deliver a cargo of medical aid, toys and building supplies. Labour news from Egypt

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) Groundhog Day in Afghanistan : "Operation Panther's Claw" in Afghanistan and the British Media. Amy Goodman from "Democracy Now" in conversation with the journalist and film-maker John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, health care in the US and "Obama's war" in Afghanistan-Pakistan.

Imran Aslam, veteran Pakistani journalist and President of Geo TV, Pakistan’s premier television news channel, and Kamran Ali, Associate Professor Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at University of Austin in Texas talked to Shahram Aghamir of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on KPFA Radion in Berkeley in the United States. Imran Aslam and Kamran Ali discuss the U.S. policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the role of regional players such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and India in the war in Afghanistan.