USA - Afghanistan - What Americans Never Hear

An address by Pacifica radio host Sonali Kolhatkar, one of this country's leading voices against the occupation of Afghanistan and co-author of the book Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence.

Things are getting worse and worse. How many of you know about the fact that violence is up 50 percent since last year in Afghanistan? Afghanistan is a country that's, by the way, 50 percent bigger in size than Iraq, has a population four million more than Iraq. This is not about a hierarchy of oppression; it's simply for comparison purposes. So, last year, violence up by 50 percent; 140 suicide bombings in a country that had never really seen suicide bombings as a phenomenon before December 2005; over 50,000 NATO troops, of which about half are US soldiers; US soldiers dying at a rate higher than dying in Iraq, that is, per soldier, more US soldiers dying in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

And we have not heard this from the media. Certainly, the media coverage of Iraq has dipped, and by the same token, media coverage of Afghanistan is almost completely nil. You hear about it in the English-speaking press of NATO countries, because they care very much about Afghanistan. Their troops are there. Canada, the UK and various other European nations, Afghanistan is their Iraq.

But the failure of the Iraq war is relatively clear to most Americans, right? You look at poll numbers. Despite the failure of the coverage of the Iraq war in this country by the mainstream media, most Americans are able to get information about Iraq and are aware, because of alternative media's coverage, certainly, of the debacle in Iraq, of the failure of the Iraq war. But not so Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is just as much a failure as Iraq, OK? We are using the same tactics. We are rounding people up, detaining them, bombing civilians. Associated Press did a count earlier in the year of how many civilians the Taliban had claimed to kill versus how many officially killed by NATO. Guess what? NATO was winning that count. NATO had killed actually more civilians than the Taliban. And we have not heard about that. Afghanistan, just as much a failure as Iraq.

If we hear the voices of women like Malalai Joya, the Afghan parliamentarian, a young intrepid social worker risen to fame in her country, known as the most famous woman in Afghanistan. You hear her more often on my program, Uprising, and Democracy Now!—Amy has interviewed Malalai several times—than you do in the mainstream media. What is Malalai Joya, this woman that we supposedly have enabled her liberation, what is she saying? She wants the US out of Afghanistan, because they're doing more damage than good.

And so, just to go back to that question of what the media have learned from both these wars, is that humanitarian concerns are something that can be manipulated to justify war, that Americans will be hooked on the notion that we can save those brown peoples over there, that we will support war if it's based on the premise of saving lives, rather than to secure oil flows, etc., capitalizing on a mass sense of well-intentioned superiority that exists in this country that our armed troops can save those brown peoples. The media knows this, because it is part of this fabric. It capitalizes on it, parading a series of grateful spokespeople as proof, rather than giving voice to a majority represented by women like Malalai Joya, who are perfectly capable of saving themselves.

So, if we want to know—if we want to know whether the US media has learned anything about war coverage, let's just examine the coverage in the lead-up to the war that may or may not happen with Iran, and you'll have your answer.

Category:

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[shadowofears]

@hexcane Dick head you killed 3 million people in veitnam,10 million in iraq,3000 in pakistan,50,000 in afghanistan for what Osamabinladen which u never caught & Oil companies thats why we hate u ppl! U r so dumb being used by Israeli lobby thats why i say American brought destruction upon themselves. Dont worry shithead Zionist will destroy ur country since AIPAC is pushing for Iran War.They will spread ur army to the point that u can no longer sustain them!

[wawadoobs]

RON PAUL.. the courageous leader we need!!

[YoungPashtun2012]

why cant USA just fking Leave Afghanistan to Afghanis...they said they dont need ur help ,...isnt it already enough of killing soo many civilians ??

[Maanie09]

N we american's r under a massive debt and under the balls of isreal and our own money is being printed by Zionist bank n we think we r the best civilization of the world. Awsome

[Maanie09]

N we fuckin american's r watching alot of tv n eating hambergers. Awsome

[Maanie09]

Nato is gettin fucked hard by taliban. Awsome.

[RetroStarcraft2]

@pashtoonsafi You do know that comment was fucking 90 days ago, three months.

You need to stop talking shit little arab motherfucker beforre I send your Taliban ass back to the stonage. SHIT WAIT, YOU ARE IN THE STONE AGE. SO QUIT ACTING LIKE YOUR COUNTRY IS SO FUCKING BAD ASS. YOU GUYS DON'T EVEN HAVE GOOD RESTAURANTS OR NOTHING BITCH. SO QUIT TALKING SHIT ON YOUTUBE. I FUCKING HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TALK SHIT OVER YOUTUBE. THAT JUST SHOWS YOU'RE A FUCKING LITTLE PUSSY THAT CAN ONLY FIGHT IN A GRP

[pashtoonsafi]

@RetroStarcraft2 listen u dumb shithead ,,what do u know about war??? Do u know wot taliban r ?? we know u r not going to leave so we r kicking u out of afghanistan motherfuckers .. We dont need u here motherfuckers.. and u know wot u missed with wrong people this time ... 150000 nato troops r n their final destination ( graveyard) FUCK U USA

[OttoLund]

abeldanger(dot)net

[dan32749]

@RetroStarcraft2 Fuck you

[dan32749]

@210482fmj Fuck you!!!