Afghanistan .... the past, present and future

The US is working out a deal to keep its soldiers in Afghanistan for years longer and if the Afghans don't want to be cooked alive by the Taliban,  they better agree to whatever the US wants in exchange and sign the dotted line.  As long as there are girls inspired by  Malala, getting educated all over in that region, there's a good chance that the people there will not only come within 50 years of our century,  but will hold on tight to the achievements and work towards more. 

The power of the NATO "public relations and propaganda" arm is so powerful that all this while I thought  Malala was an Afghan. How  beautifully the powers-that-be have interwoven Malala with the Taliban and bundled her to come across as a product of Afghanistan without appearing to do so!  Magicians!!  Malala is the single best advertising gimmick NATO has been able to lay their hands on in a long, long, long time.  At this rate,  I wouldn't put it past them to nurture her further and perhaps one day get her to become the head of Pakistan.  That would be a good thing all around.  She genuinely wants education for all.  We genuinely want the cave dwellers to leave the dark of their caves. Win-win.  I am in her corner.

And, if you think I was the only dodo who thought she was from Afghanistan ... go ask people around you  and see how many connected Malala to Afghanistan because she was attacked by the Taliban.

Here's some of the stuff going on over there.

Lyse Doucet writing at BBC:
Afghanistan: Towards a brighter future or a darker past?  Every time I land at Kabul airport I remember a day in December 2001.
It was a day Afghan pilots cried.
We stood on a cracked and cratered tarmac to witness the landing of the only plane from Ariana National Airlines to survive the punishing years of war.
That one battered aircraft was a poignant promise of a new beginning at the end of Taliban rule.
Land at Kabul International airport now and you are taken by how much there is of everything.
A new terminal and the bustling airport road are decked with a dizzying array of billboards promoting private airlines, mobile phone companies, TV channels. Every time I come back to Kabul, there's another flashy slogan evoking another glorious dream..........

.......It's in this city that a decisive political transition is now gathering pace, where new and old are also coming together, and could collide.
In recent weeks a succession of turbaned warlords and finely suited technocrats filed into the election commission to register their nominations for president. They all made an entrance, for a gaggle of tv cameras, with two chosen vice presidents, and an entourage of aides and hangers-on in tow.
This chequered canvas is a snapshot of post Taliban Afghanistan, 13 years on.
Behind the walls, in humble homes and monstrous mini-palaces, the 5 April election is now the talk of the town. The official campaign period hasn't yet begun, but politicking is underway in earnest.

No one expects all 26 teams to last the race. Some won't muster the 100,000 signatures from 20 provinces needed to run..........

Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi writing at Reuters:
The future of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 will be decided by an assembly of tribal elders in late November, its organizers said, setting a date for the verdict on a long-delayed bilateral deal held up by disputes over key provisions.

A draft pact known as the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) was hammered out in Kabul last weekend by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. But he left without a final deal as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said only the assembly, the Loya Jirga, had the authority to decide contentious issues.
These include a U.S. demand to retain legal jurisdiction over its troops in Afghanistan, which would give them immunity from Afghan law. The request appeared to have been resolved this summer, but emerged as the main sticking point after Kerry's visit.
"The BSA is very important, it has many details and has several chapters over 32 pages," Sadeq Mudaber, one of the organizers, told a meeting with journalists and dignitaries.
"Now it is time to present it to the people of Afghanistan with all its details and get their consultation on it."
The United States says it cannot agree to a deal unless it is granted the right to try in the United States its citizens who break the law in Afghanistan............

Naeem Asghar writing at Tribune:
...“I got hold of the terrorist who attacked Malala Yousafzai”,  said a schoolgirl in Swat. The words coming from an 11-year old caught me by surprise. Musfira Khan, a fifth grader was chatting with her friend during a stroll in her school’s lush green garden.
Her words grabbed my attention and my entire focus shifted towards the little girl. “How did you manage to do that?” I asked. She replied with a smile, “In my dream… I dreamt that I had arrested him.”
During my visit to Swat—the city where the world’s youngest Nobel Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai opened her eyes—it was pretty evident that girls in Mingora and Swat were attending schools fearlessly and no more scared of the Taliban. In a private school near Makan-Bagh, I managed to interview some girls. I had gone to Swat on October 11, the day when the Nobel Prize winner was to be announced in Oslo.
Musfira told me she was feeling very proud that Malala had been nominated for the prize. “Malala is very smart. When I used to visit her, she always advised me to concentrate hard on my studies,” she added. Answering a question if she also wanted to be Malala, her swift response was no. “I am Musfira Khan… I want to be Dr Musfira Khan,” she replied confidently.........

From WeaselZippers blog:
OUTRAGEOUS! U.S. Army Lieutenant Sentenced To 20 Years    In Ft. Leavenworth For Killing Taliban Scouts Helping To Set Up Ambush of His Platoon…

Nina Burleigh writing at Observer:
I had the honor of meeting her at a reception at the 92nd Street Y. She’s even smaller than you think. Local luminaries and media stars mobbed her, trying to touch her hand and snap a picture (yes I did, too). The event was a Christiane Amanpour interview taping, in which Ms. Yousafzai recounted the day some Taliban “boys,” as she called them, shot her in the head for blogging about girls’ education.
After recovering from a coma, her commitment to the cause of school for girls increased. She also talked about other depredations visited on girls her age, including the marrying off of her teen friends to older men. She even suggested there should be a legal age restriction for girls in marriage, as there is for alcohol, drugs and voting.

When the Nobel Committee chose chemical weapons inspectors over this tiny hero for their big prize, I was disappointed. It is too easy to picture a room full of white Scandinavian men missing the point that this girl, with her half-paralyzed visage and indomitable spirit, represents millions of girls not just denied education but beaten, treated like chattel and forced to submit to endless violation by Uncle Festers, impregnated repeatedly until their spirits die.

From Forums DefencePak:
Afghan authorities accused the Taliban of executing two young children between the ages of 8 and 10 as government spies.
The governor of Kunar province said the children were accused of espionage on behalf of the Afghan government and put to death Saturday night in the Wataput district of Kunar, Khaama Press reported Sunday.
Details of the alleged killings were not immediately available and Khaama Press said there was no comment or confirmation from the Taliban.
The militants, however, have been willing to target juveniles they believe were cooperating with the Afghan police and other authorities, Khaama Press said. Three teenagers were known to have been killed in such fashion since June.