EWI’s 4th Worldwide Security Conference Final Day Part 2

Sometimes you just see something or meet someone and it hits you just what an awful effect our Afghan adventure has had on millions of people. In the second section, Promoting Democracy and Human Rights: The Case of Afghanistan.

Tomorrow there will be a demonstration in Kabul with thousands expected to protest at the government's refusal to sign human rights legislation. Paddy Ogilvy, Senior Risk Analyst painted a picture of a state about to fall apart. (Listen to his presentation 9mb mp3) Once again, US/UK strategy is playing into the Taliban hands and is utterly self defeating. After trying brigade-level attacks, that failed when meeting the ferociousness of the Gurkas with massive casualties, they have moved to highly mobile units. The aim is to provoke an air strike in a village, knowing that the high level of civilian casualties will push the village away from the West and into the embrace of the Taliban.

They understand the geography, the tribal alliances and the culture in a way the coalition never will. recent street patrols by aggressive female coalition soldiers have alienated the Afghanis. Suicide attacks are up from 3 in 2004 to 136 last year and a projected figure of over 250 this year.

Although IED's are becoming common they aren't as technically advanced as those in Iraq, which is currently keeping casualty figures down, but there are hundreds of volunteers for suicide bombings and the trend is for such bombings to be more common and to have a higher kill rate.

In questioning Paddy also stated that Pakistan's ISI has transferred resources from Kashmir to Afghanistan and their liason officers are involved in the areas where al Qaeda is reported to have re-grouped and described the 'Talibanisation' of areas as being more like a Pakistan Taliban rather than the Afghanistan Taliban.

Mariam Rawi ( Listen to her presentation 9mb mp3), from the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan painted a horrific picture of what life is like in a government run by vicious warlords dominating the legislature and their involvement in the heroin trade. In recent developments they have started processing opium into heroin inside Afghanistan, instead of exporting raw opium and the amount of money they make has rocketed.

There is no alternative to the poppy trade in this 'B52 Democracy'. The warlords need to be disarmed, removed from the government and prosecuted for their crimes.

Listening to her, a very brave woman who has to appear under a pseudonym and cannot be photographed, reminded me that our failures have ruined the lives of millions of decent people, millions who share our aim and desire of living in a democratic country. Instead we've delivered them to a regime of drug barons, warlords and rapists.

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