Karzai says foreign forces have failed in Afghanistan
Peshawar – Crescent-online
January 9, 2010 – 8:00 am EST
In an uncharacteristically blunt message, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he not only does not need ‘the favor’ of US-led foreign forces but they have also failed in establishing security in his war-torn country.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on January 8, Karzai said: “With the international community, I don’t have to have their favor. They are here for a purpose, which is the fight on terror, and we are working with them for a purpose, which is the stability and safety of Afghanistan...” He was quick to point out that “In terms of security we have failed.”
Responding to constant questions in the West about his government’s “legitimacy” because of electoral fraud in last August’s presidential elections, Karzai hit back saying legitimacy must be given by “the Afghan people.”
“I have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, I have to be legitimate and have the trust of the Afghan people if I am to be a good president.” Without saying so, he told the carping Westerners to get lost.
How did Karzai suddenly become so bold? He may have been playing to the Afghan audience because he made the remarks after thousands of Afghans took to the streets in Kabul to protest the rising civilian death toll by the US-led forces in the country.
There have been demonstrations in different cities in the past month against foreign occupation troops. Protesters in Kabul and other cities have also burned effigies of US President Barack Obama now that the latter has adopted the war in Afghanistan as his own.
Meanwhile, Kai Eides, the outgoing UN representative for Afghanistan told CNN on January 7 that it was a mistake not to disburse foreign aid through the Afghan government. This approach undermined the government and delegitimized it in the eyes of the Afghan people.
While there has been talk of massive corruption in Afghanistan, which is true, the fact is 90 percent of aid was given through foreign NGOs that have been involved in massive theft of aid meant for the Afghan people.
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Turkey’s return to the Islamic fold signals strategic change
MD, Crescent–online
Toronto, January 9, 2010 – 10:00am EST
Turkey and Iran have set up a committee comprising 10 technical experts to establish an industrial economic zone on the border between the two countries. Expansion of Iran-Turkey economic relations at a time when Washington is attempting to impose additional punitive sanctions on Iran shows that US attempts to isolate Iran are failing. The US failure is particularly glaring because Turkey is a traditional ally in the region. China, too, a US rival on the global scene, declared on January 7 that additional sanctions against Iran were unwarranted.
Recent Turkish steps to support Muslim causes, such as in Palestine, indicate that Ankara is finally freeing itself from the grip of the secular, US-backed military establishment. Prime Minister Recep Tayyab Erdogan’s walk out early last year from the Davos conference attended by Zionist president Shimon Peres, to cancellation of military exercises with the Zionist armed gangs and recent help to Viva Palestina convoy clearly show that Turkey is no longer willing to act as a US proxy in the region. The racist attitude of EU member countries towards Turkey’s application for membership and US backing for Kurdish separatists in Iraq are finally making it clear to Ankara where its future lies.
Unless the US and its manipulative European allies manage to pull the same stunt they did in Algeria in 1992, Turkey is set to become a full-fledged regional power with a strong Islamic flavor. Declining western dominance and the overwhelming popularity of the ruling party in Turkey, however, make the Algerian scenario less likely to succeed. Nevertheless, what must be watched is how Washington uses its loyal Arab allies against the rise of Turkey. Uncle Sam is not likely to give up very easily.
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British lawmaker George Galloway deported from Egypt
Cairo-Crescent-online
January 9, 2010 6:00 EST
British MP George Galloway leading the Viva Palestina convoy with food and medicines into besieged Gaza has been deported by Egypt. A spokeswoman for the convoy said when Galloway and colleague Ron McKay arrived at the Rafah crossing on January 8, both were detained by plainclothes Egypt security personnel.
They were bundled into a van, driven to the airport and put on a London-bound plane.
“As soon as they emerged on to Egyptian soil, both men were forcibly pushed into a van, refused exit and told that they were leaving the country. They were then driven off in a police convoy,” the BBC quoted a convoy member as saying.
Egypt joins Canada in refusing entry to the intrepid British lawmaker who has been in the forefront of trying to break the siege of Gaza and deliver food and medicines to the people.
On January 6, club-wielding Egyptian police had attacked Viva Palestina activists in the port of Al-Arish, leaving some 60 people injured. Several were arrested but later released through the direct intervention of the Turkish Foreign Minister who spoke to his Egyptian counterpart.
Egyptian authorities had tried to prevent aid vehicles from entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing forcing them instead to go through Israel checkpoints. Galloway flatly refused to do so saying nothing that entered Israel ever reached Gaza.
Egypt was forced to climb down but clearly harbored a grudge and wanted to punish Galloway. It came on January 8 when he and McKay were bundled onto a UK-bound plane.
The Egyptian regime’s hostility toward the Palestinians manifested itself in the deportation of Galloway and his colleague.
While Egypt was bundling the British aid convoy leader, the Zionists were busy killing Palestinians in Gaza. On January 7 and 8, nine Palestinians, most of them children, were killed by Israel in Gaza.
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