What a bunch of fucking simpletons. I honestly fear for the future of my country if this thread is any indication of the collective intelligence of America.

How much oil is being exported from Afghanistan? Go ahead..Look that up. If the reason for the war was so simple as “OIL!” then it would stand to reason that evil global, multi-national corporations run by white dudes are now sucking oil out of that country at a staggering rate.

Oh wait….getting actual data is much harder than just being a fucking moron and saying “OIL!” like the bunch of fucking moronic sheep you all are.

@47

Afghanistan has nothing to do with oil, which is why we left and went to Iraq. Or, just maybe, having troops on both sides of Iran might have something to do with oil. The oil pipeline that goes through Afghanistan might have something to do with oil. A pipeline that made companies like Enron try to do business with the Taliban so oil could be moved through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and through Pakistan. And it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the pipeline deal was done in December 2002. Just a year or so after our troops were on the ground.

So maybe Afghanistan has something to do with oil after all.

george had to do something …. afghanistan was the easiest

this post reveals how web censorship becomes ideology censorship

What amazes me is all the people that bitch about it being about oil, then turn around and complain about how much it cost to fill up their SUV and demand that they government do something about the high cost of fuel.

Amazing.

Equally amazing is the same people that will bitch endlessly about the US meddling in the affairs of other countries will always be the first to bitch about “HOW CAN WE LET THIS HAPPEN!!? ZOMG!!”

Yeah..irony for teh win.

@ 51: It’s not really me who started about imposing own values on others. And what’s this ‘fuck em all’ attitude? Not really a solid base for a foreign policy I would say.
Speaking about making a difference at home: the money spent on this useless ‘war agains terror’ could have made a difference in, let’s say New Orleans or health insurance matters.

Mental Note: Duncan isn’t American.

TechCrunch as a venue for this story seems like a pretty big stretch to me. The fact that a computer was involved in these events is entirely tangential. Maybe a personal blog would have been a better choice?

@52,
there is no OIL in Afghanistan, the country is important for its strategic position and US needs that for security of its energy projects in Middle Asia.
But for many these are complicated macroeconomic and geopolitic issues.
And for many its easier to call everyone a moron and pass over with ‘whatever’.

Lil George is fighing his daddy’s school yard fight over the whole Kuwait mess. Because of Lil George’s stupidity, we’re now stuck! Oh yeah, and oil. Almost forgot.

Couldn’t agree more with the ‘keep this stuff off TechCrunch’ comments. While it’s an important debate, the Afghanistani government does not qualify as either a new or existing internet company or product:

“a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies [... and ...] existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.” [From the TechCrunch about page].

You guys are experts on web 2.0, but I’m not aware of your political credentials. When I want politics, there are already plenty of websites that I can read.

I’m loving the number of people on here who think that barrels of oil are magically flown from oilfields to refineries by little pixies using the power of dreams, and therefore Afghanistan was all about stopping the terrorists (who were mostly Saudi).

Look up the word ‘pipeline’ sometime. No, it’s got nothing to do with the MJ/K combo you took before delighting us with your political insight.

Well all I know is that I don’t come to TechCrunch for the political diatribes of one man, you clearly used the privilege you have to post on TechCrunch to post a political commentary. Sure it may not be overt, but this post isn’t about a young man printing something and then getting in trouble. Multiple times you say the US Backed Government, showing your true intent, to somehow blame the US, or put a black eye on that endeavor there. Please keep the politics off the TechCrunch, I’d hate for this great reserve of information denigrate into the likes of Digg.com’s homepage.

>> What exactly are Americans and coalition forces (including British and Australian troops) fighting for in Afghanistan again? Feel free to remind me in the comments

Ahem - Canada has a large contingent of troops in Afghanistan that make nearly daily sacrifices to clean up the mess the Americans left behind. If you’re going to wax political on a tech blog, at least remember your dear neighbours to the north.

There is now Facebook group in support of this man:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7560684603

I am amazed that the talk about making George W. Bush stand trial for his war crimes has completely died out.

If George W. was a balkan president the whole world would be screaming for his arrest for the death of 1.000s of people and the invasion of sovreign nations..

Count one vote for tossing in political or social commentary every once in a while on TechCrunch.

Even if it isn’t relevant to the site’s main subject area, it’s interesting to see how the site’s readers react to other issues. Doubt we’d see see this sample of people on a political blog.

That said, the thread would be more interesting without the ad hominem (ad humanitas?) attacks.

“What exactly are Americans and coalition forces (including British and Australian troops) fighting for in Afghanistan again? Feel free to remind me in the comments.”

We’re fighting for the security of the oil pipeline, duhh

In the next edition of Captain Obvious, we’ll discuss why America is in Iraq!

In this war of powers both already lost they north. To my to seem both are causing the death to innocent people and at the end of the way all the governors are eating of the same plate.

In this war of powers both already lost they north. To my to seem both are causing the death to innocent people and at the end of the way all the governors are eating of the same plate.

Duncan, seriously - the more you post the worse my opinion of you gets. I actually liked your content at the beginning but now it’s clear your are a pathetic moron. Is there any reason for you to frequently bring in insults and political rhetoric in to TECH news?

Bye techcrunch.

I am not going to answer why, but I’d like to recall here how things got started.

If I can recall correctly, when 9/11 happened, all fingers pointer to Osama Bin Laden.

NATO wanted to get the Talibaan out. Bin Laden’s hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan was the best excuse on the table and began an air-strike.
The Talibaan naturally retaliated, NATO changed targets overthrowing the regime and now we are in this mess !

Lets not forget that new recruits to Talibaan are constantly arriving from India and Pakistan. And with almost no support from a majority of EU members of NATO, there will be no end to this conflict.

I am wondering what this boy printed out and what was so insulting to this Government ?

Why the repeated emphasis on “US backed government”? Do you hate the United States or something? Its unimportant to the article on a tech blog. It just makes Tech Crunch look ugly.

…US backed Government…US backed Government…

In other news, the US sided with Stalin (Stalin!) in WWII.

Foreign policy isn’t a pretty business. Much of the time it’s about supporting the lesser of two evils while trying to move things in the right direction.

Hopefully the coalition can put some pressure on the Afghani government to intervene in this case.

I’m Taliban spy and I’m watchin you Duncan….one false move and you’re going down buddy (or mate or whatever you say in Australia)

‘US backed government’ means, ‘We expect the US to intervene to save this guy from the death sentence pronounced on him by his own people’.

If the US does intervene then the guy will need a new country to live in since he won’t be safe anywhere in Afghanistan. You want the guy living next to you? You got any idea exactly WHAT he downloaded and showed to everyone?

You know, there’s lots of people including bloggers and advocates of democracy getting murdered by the state in China. Don’t hear any of you making any fuss about that here. Maybe those magic words ‘US backed’ blinded you all to what goes on in the rest of the world?

Because when you spend $439 billion on something (US Defense Budget) you’re damn well going to get some use out of it!

Afghanistan has Internet access? Who knew…

we are fighting for freedom!! but you know what kind of freedom?

freedom of shopping and consuming the world resources.

well, we are the supreme and selected, right?

we deserve freedom!!

Duncan you are a fucking coward. Islam is the problem here, not the US. If you were half a man, you would call this for what it is, a bunch of filthy muslims practicing the tenets of their evil cult.

Why don’t you go print out some of those cartoons of the pedophile-prophet of islam and go to any mosque in London for a discussion. Then your widow can blog about the results.

It’s good to see, with the exception of a few biggots (e.g. comment # 80), I’m in very good company at techcrunch.com

I watched hundreds of American soldiers pass through Shannon Airport in Ireland on their way to and from Afghanistan. Some of them must know that they’re fighting for a lie. Many of them have been brutalized, and dehumanized, and in turn they behave like monsters.

#76 and #80 - bravo

@ #80 ajf: I am a Muslim and what you said was incredibly offending - just because some of the main terrorist groups claim themselfs Muslims (which they aren’t, in Quran it’s said that thou shalt attack innocent people) doesn’t mean you can call the whole religion “filthy”.

And if Cristians can ban cartoons like Pokemon and such because they are “demonic and against Cristianity” (olol) than it’s only natural that we don’t want our religion to get badmouthed.

81 -Eoin

Nice to see you are so quick to judge people based on anecdotal/superficial contact while demonstrating your own confirmation bias. Idiot.

Duncan-

The US backed government you emphasize.

Well, why didn’t we establish a Jeffersonian style democracy with Judeo/Christian values then? And completely disregard hundreds of years of Islamic based society? And just transport our laws over there?

Because that would be called COLONIALISM.

Dealing with barbarians is sticky business. We had to side with Stalin to put down Hitler.

Stick to tech stuff.

Ralrayak #83-

Yeah but you omit one thing- for many Muslims the one who ‘rejects Islam’ is no longer innocent and thereby worthy of death.

And Christians do not ‘ban Pokemon’. Get a freaking clue.

And Christians don’t want Jesus ‘badmouthed’ either BUT the difference is they respect freedom of speech unlike the millions of of savages who are so intellectually inferior and fearful they RIOT when somebody ‘offends’ them. Boo freaking hoo.

Well said Keef. A lesson on WW2 and the events leading up to it should be required prior to posts like Duncan’s.

Hurrah - this is fantastic! I needed an alternative to Digg for uninformed commentary and one-liners on extremely complex political events.

Please post more articles like this - perhaps ‘50 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR RON PAUL!!!!!’, and ‘OMG!!!!! Why the CIA covered up the assassination of JFK’.

What exactly are Americans and coalition forces (including British and Australian troops) fighting for in Afghanistan again?

C’mon! That’s exactly what they are fighting for. A gouvernment that’s loyal to the US. They care nothing about democracy and human rights.

And to those who are quick to blame Islam on this, you should get your facts straight. You can’t blame more than a million people for the acts of a few. That would be a hasty generalization.

What else are all wars and conflict about…. money of course.
In the case of Afghanistan, drugs and black gold.

The sheer volume of stupidity on this site does serve me a nice break from otherwise intelligent matters discussed elsewhere. Thank you Duncan Riley for reminding us of how utterly idiotic modern day “Liberals” have become, I’m sure the Pakistanis applauding your ignorance here agree with me in silence.

Afghanistan is a bruised and battered nation that found itself in unspeakable misery between the murderous Soviets and their stooges on the one had, and a subsequently radicalized group of orphans and refugees who became known as the Taliban on the other. While profiting from America’s agenda to help rid Afghanistan from Communism, Pakistan created the Taliban with the view to invading Afghanistan via proxy, while threatening India in Kashmir.

September 11 merely stimulated an American response seeking to shelter a bruised Afghanistan while she slowly recovers into a functioning Democracy. So far at least, the US has gained absolutely no monetary benefit out of this, so any allegations to the contrary is completely misleading. In fact the only major investment in the country and the biggest in Afghanistan’s history is currently being negotiated with a Chinese company for exploiting a copper mine in Ainak. The deal was won via tender against several multinationals, including at least one company from the USA.

That people are committed to building a Liberal Democracy in Afghanistan is absolute. However, none of us are foolish enough to expect our country to morph into our libertarian ideals over night. Afghanistan is a long project that will take many decades to manage. That there are reporters in the country, who write or download anti-religious material, is of itself a sign of great progress in the country. Though structures of governments can be imposed from within or without throughout history, we all know that Liberty is won on the street. The Afghan constitution in theory at least guarantees freedom of speech, hence tipping the scale in favor of the journalist against the Mullahs. It will take decades of courageous struggle to kick the Mullahs back into their caves.

Rather than fomenting doubt against the American intentions in Afghanistan, if you care, then try and support or help fund the strengthening of liberal institutions in the country. You can of course continue with your rants as you please, but at least now you’ve a genuinely Afghan take on all this for all it’s worth.

Peace,
Neon

The Americans are in Afghanistan to put pressure on China from all side…both East and West. So they are building their permanent base in Afghanistan to keep watch on China, whose 50% trade will be carried out through Pakistan by 2015.

You guys know nothing about your own Country…what a shame !

They’re fighting for oil pipeline routes.

Is there trouble within the Cleric Council?
If it was a secret trial, who let the cat out of the bag?
Is it Jafaar, the young minutes taker who was recently reprimanded for Snickers bar possession?
Or has Farid, the Head of IT at Council HQ, been to footloose & fancy-free with HQ’s Websense?
Or is there a coup in the works against Sayed, the eldest cleric, who wants to reduce Council opium production?

Maybe David Chase should fly on over. The ‘third world’ has got great fodor for a new HBO series. (”The Mid-Eastenders?”)

——- The Middle East… It’s not just for CNN Anymore. ——-

@39 “Ghaus” : India tested it’s first nuclear bomb in 1973. You call yourself a Pakistani and don’t even know simple facts like these? You should call yourself Idiotstani.

Uhhh, Duncan…maybe if you weren’t so pathetically stupid with the US Bsacked…ou would be able to get as REAL job rather than work for a crappy blog having to spam and beg for a living. Blogs are for “journalists” with no jounalism skills, professionalism or integriy. And you prove that.

Doesn’t matter why.

What are YOU going to do about it?

Man… I met the foreign minister of Afghanistan, Abdallah Abdallah, a few days ago. I didn’t really have anything to say at the time, but if I’d known of this story…. would have been an interesting conversation.

The toops are there so that Bush can make more money with his oil in Texas……. he did a great job in taking revenge for his father

“u can find saddam in a freaking hole in Iraq and u r telling me u can’t tell me shot tupac? he was shot in the STRIP.”

#22 - You’re an idiot. You should care. Just because these people don’t live inside your borders doesn’t mean they don’t matter or deserve your respect - we all share this planet.

This is another example of extremism in religion and the US government should be playing a part in this specific case - it’s a fine example of a medival government and the failure of US influence.

I find it ironic that this story was posted by CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) yet it seems that the Canadian troops that fight in Afganistan don’t deserve recognition to there “american, british and australian” counterparts. I’m pretty sure we have more troops over there then the australians too..

how slanted can you make a story?