Civilian Casulaties in Afghanistan

[Kefka]

Civilian Casualties In Afghanistan "Disproportionate": Robinson<br /><br /> <br />"I … do not accept that villages be written off as 'collateral damage' without one even asking about the number and names of the dead," said Robinson. <br />BERLIN, March 6 (News Agencies) – U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson criticized the level of civilian casualties in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, in an interview with a German weekly.<br /><br />"I was very concerned about the way the intervention was carried out in Afghanistan, causing a disproportionate number of victims among the civilian population," she told Die Zeit appearing Thursday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.<br /><br />Robinson said she had no reservations about fighting terrorism.<br /><br />"But I believe in the dignity and the value of every human being and do not accept that villages be written off as 'collateral damage' without one even asking about the number and names of the dead," she added, quoted by AFP.<br /><br />Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Afghanistan since the United States launched its so-called war against terrorism on October 7. <br />Meanwhile, almost 3,500 people crossed the border into Afghanistan Wednesday, March 6, while hundreds of internally displaced persons were transported from Kabul to their homes in the Shomali Plain, in the largest return of refugees from Pakistan since UNHCR began its assistance program for returnees last week, <br /><br /> <br />A family of refugees flee their village near Gardez in an attempt to escape heavy U.S. B-52 planes bombing their area. <br />According to UNHCR website, Wednesday's returns raised the number of people going home to more than 9,200 in the first four days of the joint U.N.-Afghan Interim Authority operation. They arrived at the Takhtabaig registration center outside the Pakistani city of Peshawar in 261 cars and trucks filled with belongings accumulated during years of exile.<br /><br />UNHCR opened the Takhtabaig center to register refugees opting to go home so they can receive a $20 transportation allowance at Mohmandara on the Afghan border, and relief aid including plastic sheeting, blankets and tools at their final destinations. In addition, the World Food Program provides each family with 150 kilograms of wheat.<br /><br />The U.N. agency plans to open a second registration center in Quetta by mid-March. Seven such centers are planned for Pakistan that will be able to register about 35,000 people a day once they become fully operational. A similar program is expected to start next month in Iran, where UNHCR and the government are preparing ten registration centers set to open from April 1. Pakistan and Iran currently host more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees.<br /><br />In Kabul, UNHCR and the Afghan Ministry of Repatriation transported 700 internally displaced people from the city's old Soviet compound to Qarabagh in the Shomali Plain, a two-hour trip by road. In a two-week operation, the agency plans to return some 15,000 people who fled the central Afghan plain due to fighting three years ago.<br /><br />The returnees from the former Soviet compound are provided with the same food and relief aid as the refugees. In addition, however, they receive a package of tools, farming implements, and seeds. The region, once one of Afghanistan's most fertile areas, became a barren wasteland following years of war and drought.<br /><br />The U.N. refugee agency late 2001 helped 8,000 displaced Afghans sheltered in the Panjshir valley to return to Shomali, while another 8,000 people returned to the region on their own initiative.<br /><br />The Afghans returning to Shomali emerged from their decaying apartments before sunrise Wednesday to board a convoy of 25 buses and 12 trucks hired by the International Organization for Migration, which is overseeing the logistical aspects of the operation. Some of those returning carried doors, windows and chairs they recovered from the piles of wreckage that dot the war-ravaged neighborhood west of Kabul.<br /><br />"I always wanted to get away from here," said Habibullah Daudzai, who is returning to the village of Bagar in Qarabagh district. "We are farmers, we grew wheat, apples, peaches and walnuts. We lived a good life. I am happy to return to my land."<br /><br />For Afghans heading back to the Shomali Plain, the initiative starting today will be an emotional return to the once-peaceful region. Many will find their homes and gardens gone. But returnees like Habibullah are undaunted by the challenges ahead.<br /><br />"We will rebuild our houses, clear the irrigation system, grow trees and again feed ourselves," he said as he stepped into a bus for the trip back home.

[Henry]

Kefka, I've been reading your posts on this for the past few days and I have a few questions.<br /><br />Do you think the U.S. should never have attacked the Taliban and Al Queda in Afganistan? Would the Afgans ultimately be better off had the Taliban stayed in power? If so, what course of action SHOULD the U.S. have taken after 9/11?<br /><br />If Israel unilaterally stopped its attacks on the Palestinians and then offered to work out some sort of compromise with the Palestinians involving their own, self-governed land, would the Palestinians be justified in continued attacks on Israeli civilians?<br /><br />Do you feel the media in the United States in more or less biased that the media in Europe? The Middle East? Asia?

[Sarge]

It is too bad about civilian casualties. I would much prefer to kill only the a$$holes who caused this mess. But as long as these mighty jihad fighters take the pu$$y way out and mingle in with civilians to effect escape.....well, that's war. It's quite obvious that they have less respect for civilians than the US does, because believe me, had we tried to wipe out entire populations, we could easily do it.