Genocide in Afghanistan

[Guest guest]

I hardly ever write anything political. I used to work as a

columnist for a business magazine in Turkey and after a couple of

years my idealism abandoned me and I stopped writing. Like many

other countries in the Near East, Turkey is not a stranger to

terrorism. It's a fact of life there. I was sad to see that this

cycle of violence, which was once foreign to the American psyche is

also taking place in this country. What is surprising to me is that

even the so called liberal minds lost their ideals and become

attached to their imagined national (tribal) and religious

(superstitious) identities. When I saw that hardly anyone reported

the impending genocide in Afghanistan, I considered it to be my moral

duty to point it out.

 

Before this piece let me state that this email assumes:

 

1. What happened in NY was a horrendous crime against humanity.

 

2. Those who are responsible for this act of terrorism should be

brought to justice.

 

Let's start with a simple question. What would you do if someone

burned your house? Would you find out who did it and

 

(a) Take him to court, which means presenting evidence.

(b) Don't bother going to court, just burn his house.

© Burn the entire neighborhood.

 

While one can argue one does not need to follow (a) if one is a super

power and simply execute (b) or ©, the obvious problem with © is

that you are also punishing people who had nothing to do with the

crime. This is exactly what is going on in Afghanistan today. The

innocent people in Afghanistan have nothing to do with Taliban or Bin

Ladin and they are in fact victims of Taliban and foreign

interventions. The ironic fact is that in the long run nothing can

help Bin Ladin's cause more than killing innocent civilians.

 

Most media outlets does not alert the public about the genocide that

is about to happen. Afghanistan was in ruins already. Most farmers

could not plant and people could not feed themselves which meant they

depended heavily on foreign aid. The supply lines have been cut.

The only way they can receive food is by trucking it and this is not

possible under the current circumstances since the US will not allow

it.

 

US proposes food aid by air but it will not work. Media reports this

fact without even analyzing. Is this so hard to imagine? Let's say

that you live in Colorado. If the high flying military planes drop

food at random locations in Colorado, what is the chance of your

getting it? If don't know where and when the food will be delivered,

you won't get it. Although you may find out about it in Colorado by

watching your local news, in Afghanistan there is no way for you to

know this logistic fact.

 

The undeniable fact is that under the current circumstances by the

end of winter millions of people in Afghanistan will die, not by

bombs but from starvation. This genocide will not be committed by an

abstract entity but by you, me and all of us.

 

Hur