02-02-2010, 02:31 AM
Here are a few interesting points from a thread Magda started last December:
A Message From The Taliban Who Is Responsible for the Anarchy in Afghanistan?
"Americans are responsible for the chaotic situation. They handed over power to notorious warlords, venal officials and mafia-linked governors..."
"The warlords usurp government and people’s lands and buildings. No one can ask them why..."
"Karzai himself has granted 6000-7000 acres of lands to his favorites..."
"Independent analysts around the world believe that USA wants to keep a corrupt government installed in Kabul because this will provide a justification to maintain American military presence in the country..."
Pretty prescient. Here's what NPR had to say today...finally catching up with this story:
Karzai's Brother Tied To Corrupt Afghan Land Deals
by Tom Bowman
![[Image: karzai.jpg?t=1265047215&s=2]](http://media.npr.org/assets/news/2010/02/01/karzai.jpg?t=1265047215&s=2)
Ahmed Wali Karzai, shown here in October 2009 during an interview with The Associated Press in Kandahar, is battling allegations that he has participated in illegally taking possession of land and water rights in the southern Afghan province. The theft of both private and public lands is a growing problem in Afghanistan.
"In Afghanistan, the theft of public and private land is a growing form of corruption. President Hamid Karzai has vowed to tackle the vexing issue."
"...But one obstacle to the president's vision is his own brother, who is part of the problem."
"...money leaving Afghanistan, says Meyer and others, is increasingly coming from land grabs. Government officials misuse the law to take control of public and even private land for development — and developers and corrupt officials split the profits..."
"The land grabs started not long after Karzai came to power six years ago, according to Ahmad Nadery of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission..."
"Some Kabul residents were evicted from their property. And Nadery says the land was made available for a fraction of the cost to the president's political allies. 'It was pretty much given away,' Nadery says."
"U.S. and Afghan officials say that the man at the center of the land grabs in one province is the president's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who chairs the provincial council in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan."
"[State Department adviser in Kandahar, Todd] Greentree says Ahmed Wali Karzai was able to grab the lands because of his political connections."
"'To the extent that you want to question its legitimacy or not, he was operating as a designee of the president, as the president's political representative to the south,' Greentree says."
"'This matters because this is the desert,' says Greentree. 'Water is the most valuable resource after land. Kandahar is Chinatown,' he says."
In that Jack Nicholson movie, set in 1930s Los Angeles, powerful figures try to secure water rights on land outside the city.
"'A political mafia gets control of the water resource and knows where it's going to distribute so they buy up and acquire all the land around it and then become fabulously wealthy and powerful as a result. ... That's the underlying story,' he says."
Resentment Growing
"Such stories are leading to rising anger in the Afghan Parliament.
One lawmaker, Sardar Mohammad Rahman Oghli, says through an interpreter that President Karzai's re-election last fall was a victory for corruption. 'I congratulate Karzai's victory to these people, to drug smugglers, to land grabbers,' he says.
"Rahman Oghli says land grabs also are becoming a problem in Faryab, the remote northern province he represents. He doubts the Afghan government will do much about it, and he criticizes the Americans, too.
"'If they had been honest in the fight against corruption, they wouldn't have helped a corrupt and incompetent government like Karzai's get elected,' he says."
Recall, Karzai got a Do-Over in his election. He was caught perpetrating election fraud. He got another chance to be put into office. And he was. Even in the USA, people who perpetrate election fraud do not get a do-over. They get arrested.
"The fish stinks from the head."
A Message From The Taliban Who Is Responsible for the Anarchy in Afghanistan?
"Americans are responsible for the chaotic situation. They handed over power to notorious warlords, venal officials and mafia-linked governors..."
"The warlords usurp government and people’s lands and buildings. No one can ask them why..."
"Karzai himself has granted 6000-7000 acres of lands to his favorites..."
"Independent analysts around the world believe that USA wants to keep a corrupt government installed in Kabul because this will provide a justification to maintain American military presence in the country..."
Pretty prescient. Here's what NPR had to say today...finally catching up with this story:
Karzai's Brother Tied To Corrupt Afghan Land Deals
by Tom Bowman
Ahmed Wali Karzai, shown here in October 2009 during an interview with The Associated Press in Kandahar, is battling allegations that he has participated in illegally taking possession of land and water rights in the southern Afghan province. The theft of both private and public lands is a growing problem in Afghanistan.
"In Afghanistan, the theft of public and private land is a growing form of corruption. President Hamid Karzai has vowed to tackle the vexing issue."
"...But one obstacle to the president's vision is his own brother, who is part of the problem."
"...money leaving Afghanistan, says Meyer and others, is increasingly coming from land grabs. Government officials misuse the law to take control of public and even private land for development — and developers and corrupt officials split the profits..."
"The land grabs started not long after Karzai came to power six years ago, according to Ahmad Nadery of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission..."
"Some Kabul residents were evicted from their property. And Nadery says the land was made available for a fraction of the cost to the president's political allies. 'It was pretty much given away,' Nadery says."
"U.S. and Afghan officials say that the man at the center of the land grabs in one province is the president's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who chairs the provincial council in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan."
"[State Department adviser in Kandahar, Todd] Greentree says Ahmed Wali Karzai was able to grab the lands because of his political connections."
"'To the extent that you want to question its legitimacy or not, he was operating as a designee of the president, as the president's political representative to the south,' Greentree says."
"'This matters because this is the desert,' says Greentree. 'Water is the most valuable resource after land. Kandahar is Chinatown,' he says."
In that Jack Nicholson movie, set in 1930s Los Angeles, powerful figures try to secure water rights on land outside the city.
"'A political mafia gets control of the water resource and knows where it's going to distribute so they buy up and acquire all the land around it and then become fabulously wealthy and powerful as a result. ... That's the underlying story,' he says."
Resentment Growing
"Such stories are leading to rising anger in the Afghan Parliament.
One lawmaker, Sardar Mohammad Rahman Oghli, says through an interpreter that President Karzai's re-election last fall was a victory for corruption. 'I congratulate Karzai's victory to these people, to drug smugglers, to land grabbers,' he says.
"Rahman Oghli says land grabs also are becoming a problem in Faryab, the remote northern province he represents. He doubts the Afghan government will do much about it, and he criticizes the Americans, too.
"'If they had been honest in the fight against corruption, they wouldn't have helped a corrupt and incompetent government like Karzai's get elected,' he says."
Recall, Karzai got a Do-Over in his election. He was caught perpetrating election fraud. He got another chance to be put into office. And he was. Even in the USA, people who perpetrate election fraud do not get a do-over. They get arrested.
"The fish stinks from the head."
"If you're looking for something that isn't there, you're wasting your time and the taxpayers' money."
-Michael Neuman, U.S. Government bureaucrat, on why NIST didn't address explosives in its report on the WTC collapses
-Michael Neuman, U.S. Government bureaucrat, on why NIST didn't address explosives in its report on the WTC collapses
