Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 14, 2006
Pg. 3
Q&A: Norine MacDonald, Founder, Senlis Council
By Don Melvin, Cox International Correspondent
London -- The international coalition in Afghanistan has failed the people who initially welcomed the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, allowing a resurgence of the Taliban, according to a study to be released today by the Senlis Council, a European think tank.
Humanitarian conditions in the south have worsened dramatically in recent months, says the report, which calls for more help to Afghan families caught in the violence.
On Wednesday in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai again accused neighboring Pakistan of supporting the Taliban's efforts to destabilize his country.
Suicide bombings and other attacks by the Taliban have led to growing instability in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The country has also become the world's largest exporter of opium, helping produce 90 percent of the world's heroin supply.
Norine MacDonald, Senlis Council's founder and lead researcher, has spent most of the past two years living in southern Afghanistan. She previewed the findings of the report. Here are excerpts.
What are the main conclusions of the new report?
Our unfortunate conclusion is that we, the international community, are losing the hearts-and-minds campaign and the Taliban are winning the hearts-and-minds campaign.
The situation in southern Afghanistan has deteriorated really dramatically in the last 10 months. And we've seen a real resurgence of violence, resurgence of the Taliban.
The situation started deteriorating in the spring with a very aggressive U.S.-led poppy eradication campaign that left the poorest farmers in that area without any way to feed their families. It's an area of extreme poverty, and the poppy crop eradication campaign left many of them on the brink of starvation.
Additionally, at the end of May and beginning of June, there was a political decision by the international community to start a bombing campaign in southern Afghanistan. . . . Not surprisingly, all those families, all those villages that were affected by the bombing have very strong negative feelings against both the Karzai government and the international community.
How much of the country do the Taliban and allied forces control?
In southern Afghanistan -- so let's say that's half of the country -- the Taliban have psychological control, which means that no local Afghan will travel through that area without considering what they believe to be the current rules for traveling.
From a psychological point of view, you will see almost all the men are now growing their beards. The Taliban are running road checks, and that's one of their favorite things to harass local men about.
Do the Taliban also help people with money or pay people to be soldiers?
They are paying young men to fight, sometimes up to $200 a month. These are young men who are angry against the foreign community and have no way to feed their families, so they find that a very appealing offer.
I think the situation in southern Afghanistan should really concern everyone.... We already know what the Taliban would bring to the people of Afghanistan; we already know that this would be the equivalent of giving al-Qaida again a home for training and for plotting their global terror activities.
What in your mind would constitute an effective hearts-and-minds campaign?
First off, you have to send a massive amount of food aid to southern Afghanistan and provide some way for the people in the camps and the poorest villages to feed their families and to get through the winter. They have no food, they have no water, they have no proper shelter.
If there must, from a military point of view, be a continued bombing campaign, there must be some place for the civilians caught in those village bombings to go for refuge. There must be medical assistance. They're good people. They supported us being there. Those are the people that we went there to protect.
December 14, 2006
Pg. 3
Q&A: Norine MacDonald, Founder, Senlis Council
By Don Melvin, Cox International Correspondent
London -- The international coalition in Afghanistan has failed the people who initially welcomed the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, allowing a resurgence of the Taliban, according to a study to be released today by the Senlis Council, a European think tank.
Humanitarian conditions in the south have worsened dramatically in recent months, says the report, which calls for more help to Afghan families caught in the violence.
On Wednesday in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai again accused neighboring Pakistan of supporting the Taliban's efforts to destabilize his country.
Suicide bombings and other attacks by the Taliban have led to growing instability in southern and eastern Afghanistan. The country has also become the world's largest exporter of opium, helping produce 90 percent of the world's heroin supply.
Norine MacDonald, Senlis Council's founder and lead researcher, has spent most of the past two years living in southern Afghanistan. She previewed the findings of the report. Here are excerpts.
What are the main conclusions of the new report?
Our unfortunate conclusion is that we, the international community, are losing the hearts-and-minds campaign and the Taliban are winning the hearts-and-minds campaign.
The situation in southern Afghanistan has deteriorated really dramatically in the last 10 months. And we've seen a real resurgence of violence, resurgence of the Taliban.
The situation started deteriorating in the spring with a very aggressive U.S.-led poppy eradication campaign that left the poorest farmers in that area without any way to feed their families. It's an area of extreme poverty, and the poppy crop eradication campaign left many of them on the brink of starvation.
Additionally, at the end of May and beginning of June, there was a political decision by the international community to start a bombing campaign in southern Afghanistan. . . . Not surprisingly, all those families, all those villages that were affected by the bombing have very strong negative feelings against both the Karzai government and the international community.
How much of the country do the Taliban and allied forces control?
In southern Afghanistan -- so let's say that's half of the country -- the Taliban have psychological control, which means that no local Afghan will travel through that area without considering what they believe to be the current rules for traveling.
From a psychological point of view, you will see almost all the men are now growing their beards. The Taliban are running road checks, and that's one of their favorite things to harass local men about.
Do the Taliban also help people with money or pay people to be soldiers?
They are paying young men to fight, sometimes up to $200 a month. These are young men who are angry against the foreign community and have no way to feed their families, so they find that a very appealing offer.
I think the situation in southern Afghanistan should really concern everyone.... We already know what the Taliban would bring to the people of Afghanistan; we already know that this would be the equivalent of giving al-Qaida again a home for training and for plotting their global terror activities.
What in your mind would constitute an effective hearts-and-minds campaign?
First off, you have to send a massive amount of food aid to southern Afghanistan and provide some way for the people in the camps and the poorest villages to feed their families and to get through the winter. They have no food, they have no water, they have no proper shelter.
If there must, from a military point of view, be a continued bombing campaign, there must be some place for the civilians caught in those village bombings to go for refuge. There must be medical assistance. They're good people. They supported us being there. Those are the people that we went there to protect.