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Oxfam Says New US Strategy Needed in Afghanistan
KABUL - The United States must change its strategy in Afghanistan if it is to avoid a humanitarian crisis, with millions of Afghans struggling to survive and violence at its worst levels since 2001, an aid group said on Saturday.
Afghan villagers shout slogans against the U.S. and Afghan governments during a demonstration following a U.S. operation in their village, in Mehterlam, capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) After almost three decades of war, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. Drought and high food prices have also hit many Afghans hard.
On top of that some 5,000 people, including more than 2,000 civilians, were killed in 2008 and insurgent attacks were up by 50 percent on the previous year.
"With spreading insecurity, and civilians facing critical needs, there must be a comprehensive new strategy which will avert a major crisis," Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, a British-based charity said in a statement.
In a memo sent to U.S. President Barack Obama, Oxfam, which has worked in Afghanistan for more than 20 years, outlined a 10 point plan aimed at changing U.S. policy that if adopted, it says, will help bring lasting peace and development.
Washington is conducting a major review of strategy in Afghanistan and is expected to deploy up to 30,000 more U.S. troops and commit much bigger development assistance.
But instead of focussing on military efforts, the United States and other donors should step up their humanitarian assistance and concentrate on long-term solutions as opposed to quick fixes, Oxfam said in its memo to Obama.
"With faltering reconstruction and rising instability, the United States must look beyond military solutions and take a leading role in protecting civilians and forging a new international approach to Afghanistan," Offenheiser said.
While the United States is by far the largest donor to Afghanistan pouring billions of dollars in aid into the impoverished country, humanitarian assistance is dwarfed by that spent on military operations.
The U.S. military alone spends some $100 million a day fighting Taliban insurgents, but spending on aid by all donors since 2001 amounts to only $7 million a day, aid agencies say.
In 2007, U.S. funding for the agricultural sector was less than 1 percent of what it spent on security, despite 80 percent of Afghans relying heavily on agriculture to survive, said Oxfam.
Up to five million Afghans face food shortages this year and more than a million young children and half a million women face serious health risks due to malnutrition, it said.
Only half of a United Nations emergency appeal for $404 million for Afghanistan, launched last July, has been funded.
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23 Comments so far
Show AllPresident Obama needs a new strategy in Afghanistan. He must reverse course from the failed Bush policies. With Roberts Gates still in there though, it is unlikely that anything different will happen. This is Vietnam all over again. An inspiring young leader hoping to make broad social changes inherits a failed military policy and gets stuck in the mud, this time the sand.
Sand Tanguero? More like mud. Afghanistan is a mountainous region think Hindu Kush. Afghans are not Arabs and Afghanistan is in Central Asia not the Arab World. Afghans speak Dari and Pushtu not Arabic.
Will Obama recognize a no brainner when he sees it?
Haven't you been paying attention? Obama is trying a "new strategy in Afghanistan". That's why he is increasing the troop levels.
Almost everyone agrees that one of the biggest mistakes Bush made was not employing enough troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan to enforce the peace. Obama is trying to remedy that. The people speaking out against his plans are the same naysayers who wrongly claimed that the surge wouldn't work.
So you still believe the Bush administration's simplistic claims that "the surge worked", even though nearly everything else they told us was a lie? The reality is much more complex. See the following:
Did the Surge Work? http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/09/did-the-surge-w.html
The Only Relevant Question for Patreaus (sic) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/10/1200/80558
Is The Prospect Of Withdrawal Responsible For The Modest Security Gains In Iraq? http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/24/withdrawal-responsible-for-success/
More Iraqis Said to Flee Since Troop Increase http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/world/middleeast/24displaced.html?ex=1345608000&en=898fc6ac9a1c2f85&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
British Leave Basra; Violence Drops by 90 Percent http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/17/2322/9937
Former Top General in Iraq Faults Bush Administration http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/washington/12cnd-general.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin
Iraq: Did the Surge Work? http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/23-3
Did the Surge Work? http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=13201
"So you still believe the Bush administration's simplistic claims that "the surge worked""
No, I believe Obama when he says that the surge "worked beyond our wildest dreams".
I believe the reduction in violence proves his point.
BTW the surge refers to the whole change in tactics not just the troop increase.
Almost everyone agrees? Nobody asked me. This is so much like Vietnam. More and more troops will not help.
Joe
Apt comment. Substitute BS for sand.
Joe
U.S. funding for the agricultural sector was less than 1 percent of what it spent on security, despite 80 percent of Afghans relying heavily on agriculture to survive,,,
...but then Big Oil's war on Afghanistan isn't about feeding starving Afghanis, it never was, but it's all about feeding bloated oilygarchs. Obama knows that.
Iraq's oil is already in the bag so onto Afghinistan and Iran. Neo-Cons never die, they just change color.
This commentary by a former BBC correspondent is useful in understanding where functionaries of a BINGO like Oxfam are coming from.
Michael Maren, author of The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity has called their impact "positively evil." Here's an interview of Maren who spent decades in Third World hot-spots on the payroll of saintly organizations that exist "courtesy of First World saps who had been guilt-tripped out of their money".
The drug trade restored by the US puppet regime! While oil and oil pipelines out of the Caspian sea basin were undoubtedly a factor, the bombing of Afghanistan also served to restore the multi billion drug trade, which is protected by the CIA. Immediately following the installation of the US puppet government under Prime Minister Hamid Kharzai, opium production soared, regaining its historic levels. According to the UNDCP, opium cultivation increased by 657% in 2002(in relation to its 2001 level) In the immediate wake of September 11, the price of opium in Afghanistan increased three-fold. By early 2002, the price was almost ten times higher than in the year 2000. Its called the Afghan Golden Crescent drug trade and it represents approximately one third of the worldwide annual turnover of narcotics. The UN estimates about 500 billion a year.
Only one "new strategy" need apply: US/NATO out of Afghanistan. Get out and stay out.
Nothing will change until the American people get tired of being stuck in the 'war on terror', waged to 'prevent future terrorism' by our announced enemies al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
No new strategy will be successful, because the underlying insanity of fighting an unwinnable war is never addressed.
DMC:
All one has to do is watch the video at http://www.911missinglinks.com, to know our country has no reason to be in Afghanistan, much less Iraq. Even if the '911' attacks had been done by Islamic terrorists hiding in Afghanistan, it would hardly justify the many years our military has been fighting over there, which only bleeds our country economically and militarily. Putin knows this, so he invited the UN and US forces to use Russian airspace to send more military materiel and troops to Afghanistan. We now know without doubt that the House of Rothschild (HOR) Zionist entity was behind the '911' attacks, and most of the other false-flag attacks, wars, revolutions, and economic crises of the past century (and more). The world needs to wake-up to reality, and purge the HOR entity from our banking systems, media, education, and government (plus legal system, allopathic fascist medicine, etc.). These people are guilty of committing war-crimes and crimes against humanity, so the HOR and all its supporters, including journalists and internet 'warriors', need to be brought to justice at international criminal court tribunals. These people are guilty for being criminals, NOT for being "Jewish", and their attempt to hide behind Jewish people yet again is doomed to failure. The HOR created the persecution and suffering of Jewish people previously, and they are the worst enemy Jewish people have. Google-> "House of Rothschild" and "Zionism+911" for more information on this most important topic. The people of the world need to spread the Intifada (Arabic, literally to "shake off") and shake off the HOR parasites of humanity, once and for all.
Intifada ~ Shalom
"If you get into trouble so far from home, you've got to be looking for it."
----WILL ROGERS
"Knee deep in the big muddy"--Pete Seeger
Riiiight! That's what we need is another hundred or so thousands of American soldiers kicking in doors, spraying the occupants if they try to defend themselves, then telling the world they killed another hotbed of terrorists.
We all know that the way to promote democracy and freedom is to stick a bayonet against the throat of the learner and inform him that he will now believe and act as he is told and that is Democracy. If he protests, he obviously hates freedom, so waste him (and his little dog, too).
The insanity, cruelty, and stupidity which the United States manifests to the world is almost beyond belief. Mr. "Change" is not only continuing CheneyBushCo's bankrupt policies, but is expanding them.
Everybody says "give him a chance" but he is already blowing the chances and a lot of innocent lives. We were supposed to give CheneyBush a chance. Naah, this insanity will continue. Obama might want to do something progressive, but, by the people that are his appointees, we can see that whoever is running the show doesn't want to bend too far from the PNAC, no matter who is nominally incharge.
Obama sent drones to drop bombs on Pakistani "terrorists" his first week in office. And yes, civilians were killed of course.
DMC
Thankyou commondreams for not deleting my earlier comment here. Unless a comment uses abusive or racist language, and it's related to the article, it should be allowed. Political censorship has no place in an open and free society. I just learned that "truthout.org" is a CENSORED website, so please don't give them any money - my donation will go to commondreams.org instead. What the House of Rothschild (HOR) does to install the censors, is give the website owners a large amount of money so they can have the 'gatekeepers' from the ADL do their dirty work of censorship. They just can't allow the sheople to know the truth (see my above comment for some truth)! BTW, my mother is Jewish, and my political and historic beliefs have no relation to being a "Jew hater", rather they are based on extensive research. I despise the term "anti-Semitic", which is usually used in an Orwellian way. The Palestinian people I support are Semitic, while most all Jews who call me "anti-Semitic" are themselves Ashkenazum descended from the Khazars, so they are NOT "Semitic" themselves, and have NO history in Palestine. They use that Orwellian slur to support their "chosen people to the promised land" lie.
The steadfast and courageous Palestinian people have not suffered in vain. Their Intifada (Arabic - literally, to "shake off") is spreading throughout the world now, and soon all the countries with Zionist occupied governments will shake off the parasites of humanity, and then bring them to justice at tribunals for their many crimes against humanity. The brave Palestinian people are going to be the catalyst to setting us all free from the HOR entity.
Intifada ~ Shalom
Paul Siemering
obama's Afghanistan plan, which he's been promoting throughout his campaign, was bonkers from the beginning, and is not getting better. The drones in Pakistan were probably loaded and in flight when he got sworn in, but even so he coukd have stopped them.
he needs to tell the people nobody knows what we are doing in Afghanistan, and never did, and he' calling time out until he can figure out what to do.
then come back and explain that Afghanistan has already been shot at and bombed enough to last the well into the next century, and what they need now is only good stuff- clinics, schools, build some house, set up a big buffet from Kabul to Kandahar.
call off the stupid "war on terror" admit it was a bush fraud from the start
I have trouble understanding how someone as bright as Obama could fall for the simplistic idea that our troops can solve much in Afghanistan, such a complicated country. I know that there is a lot of money to be made from war contracts, weapons, and fear, so there are plenty of theoreticians spinning military solutions for anything under the sun.
Military solutions so far have enriched military contractors, caused the death of our soldiers, Iraqis, Afghans and helped Al Qaeda to recruit, and disappeared hundreds of billions that could have gone to health, jobs and the environment here and abroad.
Why will this be different?
Joe
How about an unconditional withdrawl.......forget the surge....we are not making friends thats for sure.....
~ Some people live their whole lives without ever waking up ~
Mr. President, how many US soldiers are there in Iraq today February 1, 2009? I will ask you the same question at the beginning of every month. I do not expect an answer.