Dutch soldiers’ union criticizes Afghan war

This is a video about the Afghan war, from the USA.

Translated from Dutch news agency Novum:

Trade union critical about Oruzgan mission

14 September 2009 09:24

AMSTERDAM – Afghanistan is governed so badly that the Netherlands should ask itself whether its [military] mission in Oruzgan has any sense.

Also the state of the rule of law in that country hardly justifies the risk which Dutch soldiers there have day after day. This is what Wim van den Burg says, chair of the soldiers’ trade union AFMP/FNV [General Federation of Military Personel/FNV].

The government of president Hamid Karzai cheated during the recent elections, according to the trade union chair. It also treats women in this Islamic country in a medieval way, he said.

Also, Karzai’s supporters are warlords who stoop to violence against NATO soldiers, Van den Burg said this Monday on [Dutch] Radio1.

Also the way in which the government deals with critical journalists is wrong. Also, he said, the Afghan troops do not care about their own people.

From People’s Weekly World in the USA:

PHILADELPHIA — Carrying banners and chanting “Shut it down!” and “War is not a game!” close to 300 demonstrators marched into the Franklin Mills Mall here to protest the continued operation of the Army Experience Center. Most of the demonstrators had gathered outside the mall and marched in past a line up of mall security guards and Philadelphia police.

Danish complicity in US torture in Afghanistan: here.

German criticism of Afghan war: here.

Time for Barack Obama to retire not just the term “war on terror” but the war itself: here.

Faster troop withdrawal may save $1 trillion: here.

Afghan voting process a success? Really? Here.

From Inter Press Service:

Taliban’s tank-killing bombs came from US, not Iran

Inter Press Service
September 04, 2009
Gareth Porter

In support of the official U.S. assertion that Iran is arming its sworn enemy, the Taliban, the head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Dennis Blair, has cited a statement by a Taliban commander last year attributing military success against NATO forces to Iranian military assistance.

But the Taliban commander’s claim is contradicted by evidence from the U.S. Defense Department, Canadian forces in Afghanistan and the Taliban itself that the increased damage to NATO tanks by Taliban forces has come from anti-tank mines provided by the United States to the jihadi movement in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

This harrowing documentary follows two British soldiers who have been horrifically injured while fighting in Afghanistan: here.