Supporting the Taliban

Rice, Brown meet on Afghanistan meltdown as it emerges that the UK was plotting to build military training centers for the Taliban

6 February, 2008

The BBC News website posted an article today on the meeting this week between US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and British PM Gordon Brown, who are set to discuss recent problems with Afghanistan. In a decidedly obscure reference, the article states that they will "look for ways to repair relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has rejected much of the international strategy for his country."

What this vacuous phrase seeks to downplay is Kabul's bombshell accusation earlier this week that the UK was secretly plotting to build military bases to train Taliban fighters in Helmland province. The plan was to offer the fighters military training and equip them with high-tech communication equipment to persuade them to "switch sides" and join local militias. In fact, such is the Afghan government's rage over the issue that they expelled two diplomats from the country on Christmas Day once their plans were discovered and President Karzai has gone on record to publicly blame Britain for the return of the Taliban in the south. Not that you'd get any of this information by reading the BBC article.

Likely, the Blair Broadcasting Corp (or has it officially changed to the Brown Broadcasting Corp?) wants to play down these reports because it is becoming increasingly obvious to the public just who is really behind the creation and training of the militant terror groups we are supposedly confronted by in the bogus war on terror. There was once a time when the general public would believe that militant Islamic groups like the Mujahideen were organized, funded and trained by the CIA and then "forgotten about" only to re-emerge as enemies a few years later. But this "blowback" fairy tale so beloved by those who still believe they're on the left side of the false left-right political spectrum is becoming increasingly harder to believe. Last year it emerged that the US is actually supporting Al-Qaeda in carrying out bombings in Iran. Not only is the Bush administration actively supporting an Al-Qaeda organization, it just happens to be the exact group that was headed by alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Now the UK is accused by the government of Afghanistan itself of plotting to provide military training to the same Taliban that once harboured Osama bin Laden. Even a public that refuses to look into the basic facts of 9/11 would have to admit that something is extremely suspicious here, so the BBC have merely consigned these uncomfortable connections to the memory hole.

The article does at least mention the growing tensions and voices of dissent within NATO itself about the entire Afghan mission...whatever the mission is at this point, exactly. The only tangible results of the mission so far seem to be are record opium crops and plots to provide the Taliban with military training and satellite communication.

It seems likely that the current precarious minority government of Canada may be put on the line over the Afghan issue, and if an election should result it is highly advised that the people of Canada reflect on what this mission is really accomplishing when they step into the voting booth.