Gareth Porter: Afghan war, dead weight around Obama’s neck + Raz Mohammad: Drones Kill the People of Afghanistan

with Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
January 12, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

PressTVGlobalNews·Jan 12, 2013

A political analyst tells Press TV that US President Barack Obama really does not want to keep American troops in Afghanistan any longer and this war is a dead weight around his neck. The comments came after US President Barack Obama said that Afghanistan must grant US forces legal immunity if Kabul wants American troops to stay in the country beyond 2014.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Gareth Porter, historian and investigative journalist, to further discuss the issue.

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Gareth Porter, an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy, received the UK-based Gellhorn Prize for journalism for 2011 for articles on the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

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Obama meets with Karzai in DC

RTAmerica·Jan 12, 2013

President Obama met with his Afghan counterpart on Friday to discuss a 2014 drawdown of American troops. Now, in front of the camera, both President Obama and President Karzai have presented a united front and say they agree on future goals for Afghanistan. But one report after another has demonstrated that these two leaders are often at odds with one another. RT Arabic correspondent Reema Abu Hamdieh tells us about the current relationship between the presidents and what we learned from today’s meeting.

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Updated: Jan. 13, 2013

Afghan Peace Volunteer says drones bury beautiful lives

ourjourneytosmile·Jan 13, 2013

This video is an interview of Raz Mohammad, an Afghan Peace Volunteer, regarding his close experience of drone warfare in Afghanistan.

I remember how, in my village, a drone attack killed my brother-in-law and four of his friends. It was truly sad. A beautiful life was buried and the sound of crying and sorrow arose from peaceful homes. I say that this is inhumane. Today, the idea of humanity has been forgotten. Why do we spend money like this? Why don’t we use an alternative way? The international community says that drones are used to kill the Taliban. This is not true. We should see the truth. Today, it’s hard to find the truth and no one listens to the people.

They kill human beings. Drones bring nothing but bombs. They burn the lives of the people. People can’t move around freely. In the nights, people are afraid. Drones don’t improve people’s lives, they limit the people’s lives. The people are not happy with drones. When they hear the sound of drones, they feel sad.

Drones don’t protect the people of Afghanistan. Instead, drones kill the people of Afghanistan. You hear in the news and reports that every day, families, children and women are killed. Do you call this safety?

When my younger brother knows of a drone incident, he says he won’t go to school or get out of bed early today because the drones may come. See, how it affects the mind of a 5 or 8 year old child.

For their own power and lives, they drop bombs on the people, and bring division and inhumanity. As I see it now and after 2014, innocent human beings will be killed. We are human beings and are always your friends, thank you.

see

As Obama Admin Preps “Enduring Presence” in Afghanistan, Peace Activists Build Ties to War Victims

Gareth Porter: The Petraeus Myth

Bearing Witness to 11 Years of an Illegal War of Aggression by Jill Dalton

The “Surge” is Over. The War is Not by Dennis Kucinich

Kabul Attacks: Later, she turned pale + Photos of Soldiers With Afghan Corpses