The only winners emerging from Afghanistan these days are the drug barons The day after US war planes bombed an Afghan wedding party killing more than 30 women and children, I drove from Pakistan’s troubled tribal areas to the border crossing. Feeling rather sensitive towards my own security as a white westerner who could be mistaken for an American, I decided to throw on an all-enveloping burka and make my way across in the anonymity this garment gives women travelers. As I walked across the border at Torkham towards the Afghan passport control office I heard someone barking in a loud, aggressive American accent at one of the drivers held up at the US-controlled checkpoint. I looked up and watched as a heavily armoured, helmeted soldier pointed his gun and continued screaming in a rude manner for the driver to get in line. It obviously did not occur to him that most of the people in earshot could only understand Pashto. I really despaired and felt sorry for those Afghans who were being greeted by this obnoxious alien in uniform as they entered their own country. Now I know most Americans don’t do humility, but a little sensitivity should have been called for on that day … it was the day after nearly 90 wedding guests had been wiped out in yet another US airstrike. I have now spent several days in Afghanistan as an unembedded journalist, travelling around freely without an armed or military escort. Yes, it’s risky and at times nerve-wracking but if I want to find out what is really happening on the ground I’m not going to get it hiding in some hotel compound or army barracks being briefed by an army spokesman who knows even less than me. So far I’ve spoken to men and women from all backgrounds, cultures and Islamic ideologies and without exception they’re hacked off with the American presence. All the goodwill I saw after the fall of the Taliban has been squandered by the military presence of the US as well as the British (no one really distinguishes between the two) and it is crystal clear they have overstayed their welcome. The Taliban are in control of large swathes of the country and are now bordering on Kabul having already carried out several raids on the capital where Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is under virtual siege. Since his installation as president he has often been accused of being a US puppet, but even he is attempting to break free from those in Washington pulling the strings. Without a doubt, the continued presence of US and British forces has swung violently from being regarded as the solution to becoming the cause of most of the problems. And promises by various army chiefs to bring in more troops to enforce a Baghdad-style surge causes one of two reactions depending your political stance. Peacemakers view the arrival of more troops with spiralling despair while the Taliban and their supporters rub their hands with glee reckoning a larger enemy presence will make an easier target. Of course moronic comments by the likes of Commander Jeff Bender, a US forces spokesman, don’t help. After the Kandahar wedding attack he said: "The coalition and Afghan authorities are investigating reports of non-combatant casualties in the village of Wech Baghtu. "If innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologise and express our condolences to the families and the people of Afghanistan." What does he mean “if innocent people were killed”. It seems this US insensitivity isn’t just confined to the uniformed grunts at the Torkham border. Does Commander Jeff Bender think that the 33 dead women and children his warplanes wiped out were enemy combatants? Scores of Afghans have been killed in American air strikes this year, fuelling the resentment against the presence of foreign troops and widening the rift between President Karzai and his western puppet masters. The only winners emerging from Afghanistan these days are the drug barons who preside over the world’s largest heroin trade and the pimps who control the Chinese prostitutes operating from the scores of bordellos and brothels which have emerged since the US military occupation. So there you have it – Afghanistan a country in the grip of reckless soldiers, slappers and smack.
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1. Written by
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, on 15-12-2008 07:32
Salam sister Yvonne,
First of all I think you, I appreciate your efforts in order to transmit the real fact what is going on in Afghanistan.
You are the only one journalist that shows the real fact behind the atrocities of the US and UK solders in on the people of Afghanistan.
The main point is that most of the afghan people are under shadows of the media which is completely under control of the aggressors(Azadi radio, Voice of America, BBC and so on) we pray to Allah to find some journalists like you to inform our people from the fact.
Jallay |
2. Written by
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, on 11-12-2008 08:29
And that was a good moment and our pleasure when me and my daughter (Eman 6 years) came to see you in a restaurant in Kabul during your visit to Kabul on Nov. 7, 2008.
Hamid |
3. Written by
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, on 11-12-2008 08:28
And that was a good moment and our pleasure when me and my daughter (Eman 6 years) came to see you in a restaurant in Kabul during your stay in Kabul on Nov. 7, 2008. |
4. Written by
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, on 24-11-2008 13:49
dear sister Yvonne Ridley mashallah i really admire your work as there are very few people in our troubled times that are willing to speak the truth. I attended your speach on Saturday about prisoner 601 in stowe centre on Harrow road. I am a student at the university of Greenwich and although there are any muslims they seem to have forgotton there real purpose in life and have let the dunya over take them. I was wondering whether you could com in and share your past experience with us and just give us some insight into the forgotton people. jazak allah and keep up the good work
Hamdullah am happy that you listen to Anwar al Awlaki lol |
5. Written by
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, on 20-11-2008 16:00
ASSALAMUALAIKUM!
im from pakistan and have been a great supporter of the afghan taliban. but u have first hand knowledge so can u please tell wether they are actually good people or not cause youv actually met them.can you please right an article on it.this is a very commonly asked question cause people are confused what exactly they are like.i even tried to get a hold of your book on them when i was in uk but couldnt find it anywhere.
thank you!
and have a safe journey back! |
6. Written by fzy, on 18-11-2008 03:03
great sister sweet sister become muslim |
7. Written by
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, on 17-11-2008 14:41
Judy,
Thank you very much for your comments - you are a reminder that more than 50m Americans did not vote for Bush in the last, but one elections, not to mention those who turned out in record numbers to vote for Obama this time around.
Like you, I really hope Obama can make a change. Your words have inspired me to do a forthcoming Agenda show on the President Elect asking if it is possible for one man to make a difference.
Thank you for your observations.
Yvonne Ridley |
8. Written by
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, on 16-11-2008 12:55
Just feel the difference between Islam and the west. Example is Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who are being kept in a US prison and who could not aware about the safety and existence of her beloved children on the surface of earth. The second example is of sister Yvonne Ridley and what you say about the so called champion of democracy and freedom of speech western media which still airing the slogan of the "women degradation by Islam". Thanks. |
9. Written by
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, on 13-11-2008 18:03
Assalamu Alaikum
Well once again, Jazakallah for keeping us updated sister Yvonne, may Allah keep you safe and accept your efforts.
I agree both with Judy and Ahsan, you both made some really valid points up there. It is true that Americans are getting sick of the situations in Iraq, Afghanistan and even there own country and if you go to youtube you will find plenty of videos that many Americans, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, have uploaded there. They are playing their part in order to open their fellow country men's eyes to the truth.
Same is going in Pakistan, I really hope and pray that Allah turn the tables over the evil doers' heads and bring peace to our beloved country and to the world. Amen. |
10. Written by
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, on 12-11-2008 20:35
To Mrs Judi Batson,
Peace be with you.
You present the true lovely American whom I have always known, lived with in Boston and Wash.D.C.
May God bless you and your family.
We,the normal, peace loving people should work together for the true love, peace,non exploitation and respect in this world.
Mrs Ridley is a rare example in, seeking and exposing the truth and helping the weak all over. May God bless her always and protect her.
Please send me your email for more if you wish.
yr br
AFM
\\n
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11. Written by
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, on 12-11-2008 13:41
we are really proud of you sister to become in world of islam (Muslim).Allah bless all of us.
as a journalist what is your advice so that how can we spread the voice of islam and reallity of islam for western and all nunmuslim,which they hate islam(actually the don\'t know the reallity of islam).
i am waiting for your advice.
thanks
Naweed Ahmad from faculty of engineering kabul university. |
12. Written by
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, on 09-11-2008 16:54
Your blogs make good reading. I\'d be lying if I said I understand half as much of what I believe you are emphasising, I suppose I share the ignorant British view many 16 year old boy\'s are exposed to of the situation in Afghanistan.
Again, safe journey home, and do keep us updated.
\"CK\" |
13. Written by
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, on 09-11-2008 14:09
Dear Yvonne,
I can truly understand the outrage, the anguish, the disgust with American politics, but please give us a chance. We just voted to make a change so historic that some in Germany have said it is like the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many Americans know about humility as we have watched in horror while our country committed atrocities and acted like a very bad global citizen under Bush and Cheney, but please help us hope for good to come from the election of Barack Obama. Not all Americans are puppets. I am not in the habit of defending my country. I too have traveled in the Middle East and have hid my nationality. I preferred to be designated as Canadian, my mother's country.
Most of are are absolutely sickened at the state of the world in the wake of the Bush-Cheney administration. We do not want war. We want diplomacy and peace. We want to build understanding.
I thank all who pray for Obama to change politics and policies in the world. Bush and Cheney have left Obama with the worst mess in American history for an incoming president to face. There is an overwhelming amount of work to be done in order to even begin to undo the appalling damage of the past 8 years.
It is hard to even describe the shell of a country left behind by Bush and Cheney, but perhaps the best indication that Americans truly want change is the fact that we voted out the two biggest political machines in our country: the Republicans and the Clintons.
I had to leave a job at an Ivy League university five years ago when budget cuts eliminated my position as director of an educational institute where one of our projects included an initiative to address educational reform in a Saudi Arabian school. I have not been able to get another full time job. I have worked a part time job. My husband also lost an impressive job, also due to economic cut-backs. He too has been unable to get another job and has resorted to consulting. My husband holds a Ph.D. and is a nationally recognized expert in his field.
We look at the world in horror at what is happening to innocent people. Americans are not heartless. Many of them are simply unaware, isolated and easily manipulated by Fox news.
In working to build peace, please do not vilify all Americans. Please give us a chance. I know it is asking a lot. We have just given the world our best hope in the recent election. We need patience while we wait to see what can be achieved.
Peacefully, hopefully,
Judy |
14. Written by
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, on 09-11-2008 07:28
Peace, Mercy, and Blessings of Allah (The Most Exalted) on you, dear sister Yvonne.
My comment is not particularly to the topic of this article but on the agenda of the neo-Crusaders (neo-cons, Zionist Christians, Zionists, and Hindus). They all want Pakistan to be weakened, if not divided, for their own seemingly separate but common interests. And the evidence is very clear if you have lived in Pakistan in recent years, as I have.
Their aims are to neutralize Pakistan's long-range nuclear warheads, which can hit Israel and to enforce a decisive solution on the issue of Kashmir (and possibly the whole of Pakistan) a part of India.
We all knew that Obama was going to win this puppet show called elections on Dec 27 (2007), when Benazir was killed: 1) According to Pakistan's "Constitution", the same candidate who has been sacked cannot retain the post of Prime Minister the third time. Benazir's meeting with Bush at the time forced Musharraf to accept her coming the third time. That was the first indication. 2) To any Pakistani who thinks with even an ounce of insight, it has been a regular policy pattern of the U.S. administration that Republicans promote military personnel and make them run Pakistan secretly or openly. And whenever democrats become U.S. presidents, they always put democratic puppets in charge of Pakistan; fund Pakistan heavily; incite wars so that the Republicans' oil and military companies can profit. And the most blue-eyed puppet was Benazir, who had agreed with Bush to let American troops inside Pakistan openly and launch attacks on the Mujahideen inside Pakistan and in Afghanistan as well as let the matter of Kashmir be as it is and just make hollow speeches against the Indians, while the Kashmiris die.
So it was obvious to us from that time that Obama was going to win elections.
Obama wants to go to the "source of the problem" and kill Usama bin Ladin and what are known as "high-value targets" to show the world that they have won. In addition, they want to "neutralize" the only officially Muslim country with nuclear warheads. Not because they are afraid that Pakistan will attack Israel but because they are afraid that if Pakistan is destabilized against their agenda, then the Mujahideen might get hold of the nuclear weapons. This the reason that in the recent aid to Pakistan, all the money that would have helped Pakistan be strong were recommended to be cut, while military spending was recommended to be increased.
On the bright side, however, it would be a very good opportunity for the Mujahideen when Obama lets American soldiers into Pakistan because then the Mujahideen will be able to attack them from both fronts (Afghanistan and Kashmir) and insha`Allah get hold of the nuclear weapons, by the Permission of Allah (Subhaanahu wa Taa`la). Mujahidden will make Pakistan a truly Islamic state run by words and actions of Qur'an and Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And with Allah's Help, get a firm hold of the nuclear weapons, in order to build an Islamic state of Pakistan in its true meaning, which was envisioned by its Islamic founders, like Allah Iqbal--by the Permission of Allah (The Most Wise) of course.
Please do comment, sister Yvonne, what you think of my viewpoint. You can also email me at
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15. Written by
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, on 09-11-2008 06:14
AssalaamuAlaikum sister Yvonne
sure the only winners coming out of it are the drug barons and the pimps.
do you think the position of taliban is about to change?
are they strong?..
i hope its going to change..
Afghanistan has suffered alot.
May Allah grant the souls eternal peace who were killed.
Commader is a moron..
I pray Obama changes US stance towards Afghanistan, or else things are going to get worse
have a safe journey home
Fi Amaanillah |
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