Afghanistan

[king_tubby]

I'm sure his forthcoming book deals and media work will help.

[MikeP]

You're not Chris Bryant, are you?

Who was that asked of? If me, then the name MikeP rather than ChrisB might be a clue...

[Kankurette]

Why would I want to live in Afghanistan? I'd rather be decadent than forced into marriage, forced to wear a burka and banned from working, listening to music, leaving my home without a man. No shit I wouldn't last there.

Don't know why I'm even bothering with a response.

[steve98]

You can't even say "O God, what a shitty life. Never mind, I'll have a nice cup of tea," cos there's never any milk (And they serve it in a bloody glass.)... I'm not even sure woman are allowed tea.

[Kankurette]

I guess you could milk a goat before you chop its head off to play polo.

On the subject of Pen Farthing, I feel sorry for his staff, having to stay behind while he and the animals got out, but then plenty of Brits see human beings as expendable and would rather save animals because we already have loads of homeless people anyway.[nb]Actual comment[/nb]

[imitationleather]

Given how much buying a puppy costs these days I think I know his racket. He's flying here with a plane full of BARKING GOLD.

[Kankurette]

Ricky Gervais supports him, natch.

[steve98]

It truly is the shithole's shithole, everything about it is totally shit...... And if you ever think "God, I'm so depressed, what a shithole, I'm gonna visit the seaside to cheer myself up, with some whelks and a cone of chips." You can't. Why not? Cos there's no flippin' sea (Seriously, there isn't :( )

[chveik]

give up on humour mate

[MikeP]

It truly is the shithole's shithole, everything about it is totally shit...... And if you ever think "God, I'm so depressed, what a shithole, I'm gonna visit the seaside to cheer myself up, with some whelks and a cone of chips." You can't. Why not? Cos there's no flippin' sea (Seriously, there isn't :( )

Could say the same about London...

Seriously though, just because you think it's shit doesn't give anyone the right to force them to be 'more like us'. And just for fun I would suggest that the taliban aren't all bad. They actually did massively reduce opium production until the americans moved in, and they are more serious about action against global warming than the UK or the USA.
They're pretty gung ho on dealing with theft and murder too.

I should also say that I'm not exactly a fan of the place, but I think GB is fairly shit too.

[Cold Meat Platter]

I should also say that I'm not exactly a fan of the place, but I think GB is fairly shit too.

What about H.S. Art?

[Kankurette]

Oscillations is the place, tbh.

Being serious, I really need to stop responding to trolls.

[Fambo Number Mive]

10 Afghanistan civilians killed by US drone strike intended to take out "a vehicle carrying at least one person associated with the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group."

So even though the US has withdrawn from Afghanistan they are still killing Afghanistan civilians.

[Buelligan]

And when you read, even the BBC's report -

A US drone strike near Kabul airport ended up killing 10 members of one family, including six children, surviving relatives have told the BBC.

The 10 were killed when a car parked at their home was struck by an explosion on Sunday.

The US military said it was targeting a vehicle carrying at least one person associated with the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.

It said people nearby may have been hit in the aftermath of the strike.

The youngest child to be killed was two-year-old Sumaya, and the oldest child was 12-year-old Farzad, the family said.

"It's wrong, it's a brutal attack, and it's happened based on wrong information," Ramin Yousufi, a relative of the victims, told the BBC.

He added, tearfully: "Why have they killed our family? Our children? They are so burned out we cannot identify their bodies, their faces."

Another relative, Emal Ahmadi, told the BBC that it was his two-year-old daughter who was killed in the strike.

Mr Ahmadi said he and others in the family had applied for evacuation to the US, and had been waiting for a phone call telling them to go to the airport.

That included one of his relatives, Ahmad Naser, who was killed in the strike and had previously worked as a translator with US forces. Other victims had previously worked for international organisations and held visas allowing them entry to the US.

I mean, fuck me.  How can any rational person uphold this kind of behaviour?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58380791

[chveik]

So even though the US has withdrawn from Afghanistan they are still killing Afghanistan civilians.

they weren't going to shut down the drone programme

the horrible stupid cunts

[evilcommiedictator]

Orright gov, to get out of Afghanistan, take a number 23 wrench
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19535969.home-office-responds-complaints-emergency-afghanistan-helpline/

THE Home Office has blamed a "technical glitch" after callers to an emergency Afghanistan helpline were redirected to a washing machine repair company in Coventry.

Priti Patel's department was inundated with complaints as people were left on hold for hours or unable to get through at all.

One caller in Scotland – who was phoning on behalf of their family in Afghanistan – also complained that instead of speaking to a UK Government official they had been put through to a washing machine repair firm.

[king_tubby]

I see the Taliban are now good.

[Blumf]

https://theconversation.com/the-taliban-reportedly-have-control-of-us-biometric-devices-a-lesson-in-life-and-death-consequences-of-data-privacy-166465

In the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul and the ouster of the Afghan national government, alarming reports indicate that the insurgents could potentially access biometric data collected by the U.S. to track Afghans, including people who worked for U.S. and coalition forces.

Afghans who once supported the U.S. have been attempting to hide or destroy physical and digital evidence of their identities. Many Afghans fear that the identity documents and databases storing personally identifiable data could be transformed into death warrants in the hands of the Taliban.

Which is nice.

[chveik]

they've been talking about withdrawal for more than a decade and yet have done nothing to prepare it, they just don't give a shit

[Buelligan]

I think it's worse than that.  Think about that summary murder of the family above, now think about 9/11 (the alleged reason for all of this).  Yep, the purposeful murder of regular people just going about their lives, think about the difference in reaction to those terrible murders.  Imagine how you'd feel if people you knew were being regularly killed in terrible ways by a group of foreigners for no apparent reason.  Why the fuck are any of us voting for or supporting these people?  Consider it next time some twat wibbles on to you about sharia law or women's rights or fucking democracy - how many of us voted to kill families, two year old children, in their homes?

People love to say how cruel and evil groups like the Taliban or ISIS are, what do we think about people who burn toddlers to death?

[robhug]

Did this Farthing toff chap have a load of animals making the most of the trolley service on a plane out of kabul?

Where they barking a the locals clinging to the wing as it took off etc?

[Fambo Number Mive]

Mr Raab also defended his handling of the crisis, insisting that "no department has performed better than the Foreign Office and anyone trying to suggest otherwise" either lacked "credibility" or had been "peripheral" to events - and "should be focused on the job at hand".

What an absolute turd Raab is.

[Kankurette]

Graun article on Pen Farthing: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/30/britain-dogs-afghan-people-pen-farthing

[bgmnts]

Considerinf how low we value animals, that's pretty grim.

[Kankurette]

I found out about him via Mumsnet (I know, I know) and there were people saying shit like 'we already have enough homeless people in the UK as it is, we don't need more refugees coming here', 'why is it always men, there are no women and kids', 'animals are innocent' and 'why can't children be put in crates in the hold'.

I'm Team Nobody in this situation. The fact Ricky Gervais was boohooing on Twitter about Farthing doesn't help.

Tom Tugendhat:

We've just used a lot of troops to get in 200 dogs; meanwhile my interpreter's family is likely to be killed. When one interpreter asked me a few days ago, 'Why is my five-year-old worth less than a dog?' I didn't have an answer.

[EOLAN]

What an absolute turd Raab is.

Maybe he could be right though. Which would be far more an indictment of all government departments than being remotely suggesting the Foreign Office is performing to anywhere near a sufficient standard.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Wonder how those Mumsnetters would feel if their DS'S and DD'S had to travel in crates on an airplane. Fucking inhumane.

I can imagine than many children in Afghanistan have PTSD from the shit the coalition forces and the Taliban did, so being put in crates for several hours would be even more traumatic for them than the average English child.

Also, how many crates have enough air for someone to be in them for several hours?

[Kankurette]

There's a reason why people are generally not put in holds, and this is because it is FUCKING DANGEROUS.

"I'd put my kid in a hold if I was desperate!" No you wouldn't. Shut up.

[bgmnts]

Obviously I love animals but why did the guy have to bring them with him? Was he literally the only person in Afghanistan who could look after them?

[Buelligan]

I think, maybe, we need to think about what this conversation is actually about.  Is life just this simple seesaw, a spinning arrow - Right or Wrong?  Dog or child?

Why do the people, children, animals, need to leave Afghanistan?  What have we done to create that situation?  What can we do to fix it?  Focusing in on dog vs child achieves what?  It achieves a moment when we can shrug and walk away and forget it all, it distracts us from thinking about this


what we need to do to stop this industry turning whole countries into charnel houses and how those enormous numbers can be translated into understandable units like dogs or children.  Also, for the next time, and there will be a next time if these murderous motherfuckers running things get a say, what can we do, what must we do, to make sure that their planned next time cannot happen?