Why do people need to print, anyway? (after having printed over 100,000 pages myself for the past decade… no longer..)

We’re fighting for the security of an oil transportation path from Central Asia southwards through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean, so all the profits from massive as-yet-untapped oilfields go to the English-speaking empire. Otherwise those lovely, lovely petroleum products might go north through Russia where those awful Communists will profit, or east through China and they’re even more beastly. A brief study of a decent terrain map of Central Asia shows that there’s only three possible routes which can be…

Sorry, there’s a sudden pain in my ear. Where was I? Oh yes.

We’re fighting for peace and democracy.

Mark,
I was never against the overthrowing of the Taliban, but if we (ie: the full coalition) replaced it with a Government that is just as intolorent, then perhaps it was a failed and lost cause. This being case in point

To promote drug production. Since the American military forces are in Afghanistan, the drug production in Afghanistan increased dramatically. 98% of all Hashish in USA and in Europe are from Afghanistan. When the American troops were not in Afghanistan, the number was very low. But how else should the American soldiers in Afghanistan get a better pay? Do you really think earning US$ 1,000 per month for serving in Afghanistan is sufficient for them to risk their life and live like a pig? Do you really think it is more difficult for the American troops to destroy the fields where drugs are planted than to fight against terrorists? Wake up, buddy. Why is nobody asking US authorities to take more action against the import of drugs? USA only has two, just two neighboring countries…

Oil.

What’s sad is that this government is decidedly MORE tolerant than the Taliban.

Oh, and did anyone say oil and an excuse to steal money from the American people and launder it through pet government contractors?

I came to write what Stilgherrian did on Comment 3, but I guess he already Posted it.

I am from Pakistan, and they need the port of Gawadar in Pakistan Next to bring the pipleline down to the port.

It is a specially built port for this purpose, for those who think its a conspiracy theory, google on gwardar Pakistan

@Rehan: No need to invoke “conspiracy”, it’s just good old-fashioned long-term strategic planning. And as for the harsh religious government of Afghanistan, well, it doesn’t matter who the government is and what they do to their own people — as long as everything’s stable and predictable so the oil investors don’t get shaky feet and decide to move their money elsewhere.

Haqueem - your statistic about hashish is incorrect (and, I suspect, made up). While poppy production has rocketed in Afghanistan since the drug-hating Taliban were kicked out, most hashish and marijuana in Europe at least is either imported from Morocco or produced domestically.

That said, the streets of European and American cities have been awash with cheap heroin recently, which is possibly what you meant.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/233748.asp

Here is an update - any journalists who SUPPORT thag student will also be arrested.

They are protesting even with the threat of arrests

Well, this is nothing. The other day I was watching a program on National Geographic channel. It was about a battle between a group of around 500 Taliban terrorists holed up in a fort in Afghanistan and the Northern Alliance forces backed by US. When the fighting went on for too long, the CIA operatives fighting within the ranks of the Northern Alliance called for an airstrike. Soon, a F-18 came and bombed the place with a number of JDAM(supposed to be very high-tech GPS guided missiles with deadly accuracy) weapons. But sadly, inspite of two nights of sustained bombing, these high-tech weapons could not destroy the a huge 3 storey block that was housing amost 500 terrorists.
Thats when I started wondering about the thousands of missiles that the US army, navy and airforce has fired in Afghanistan and Iraq. A lot of these missiles were targeted at buildings that were located in dense residential areas. Who knows how countless civilians may have been killed because of these malfunctioning weapons?

>> 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’ don’t know! Bcoz we are not told!
What is more truthful than the the truth? The stories.

Uhh Shiju .. this is about printers not F18s.

**Haqueem the increase in the production of Opium is based on supply and demand. The USA is a country full of addicts (demand) and now there are market opportunities opening up in Afghanistan to fill the supply side. This is no different when USA said that Bolivia had a cocaine problem. The fact is that the USA has the cocaine problem.

**The middle east is a lost cause. It’s scary that religion will drive the end of many lives. On the other hand most cultures in that region don’t know any different war has raged since the beginning of time. THATS WHERE THE USA HAS FAILED TO BRING PEACE!

**The middle east is seen as nothing more than a region to test out new products. These products are different then those new products in the USA. In the USA you may roll out a new software offering. In the middle east all the powerful USA based defense companies get to roll out there new products for the military (rockets/planes/guns……). AND if that wasn’t enough you have the smallest country in the region (Israel) backed by the USA and Uk with financial aid to keep the region in “check”.

**What would happen if a dirty bomb went off in Israel. Israel would retaliate with “extreme” force….remember Menachem Begin’s words “never again”.

**We should be great ful that India has a nuclear weapons otherwise Pakistan would probably point their nuclear ballistic missiles towards Israel and make the region even more volatile.

The only safe place to live now is South America and maybe Australia.

..OK, maybe not Australia

That’s easy… We’re doing it for George Bush’s “Legacy”.

And alas, he still has a year yet to do more damage.

Afghanistan is a backward conservative country and few thousand foreign troops not going to change it no matter how hard they try. Best you can do is to eliminate qaeda and taliban and build infrastructure and school. It might catch up with modern world in few decades.

Ok now drop the nuke and save some paper.

Dear lord. Or maybe not ‘dear lord’… Whatever.

Make sure you say “US Backed Government” a few more times. It really drives home the point that the US is evil, NATO and the UN had nothing to do with Afghanistan and the President, Legislature and Judiciary were all hand-selected by the “US” government for their modern western viewpoints - the people that elected them had nothing to say about that.

Also make sure that whenever you mention an Indian startup company, to link to the fascinating Wikipedia entry on Bride Burning (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_burning) - also a result of the “US” invasion of India and installation of US moral values on the Indian population.

Would someone explain to me why I should give a flying fuck about this raggyass raghead getting the death sentence in Afshitistan? Does it make any difference to my life? No it does not. Fuck him. Hope he has a crappy death.

All this false anger and self righteousness about the oil and poppy fields gets on my tits too. Newsflash, NO-ONE CARES. Your own neighbours could be getting shot and raped by illegal immigrants and you wouldn’t care as much. Go whine about how much money the US government gives to Israel to commit slow genocide against the Palestinians or something. That’ll be just as much a waste of your time as bleating about this.

@18: your comment is a short description of the failing current US foreign policy towards Afghanistan.

“think before you print”
It’s not about just saving the environment anymore, it’s about your life.
cynical…

Wait, did you think a few thousand american troops will change the world view of millions in a couple years? Aint happening. Just look at the outrage of Muslims over the Muhamed caricatures a year ago, and this was from Muslims in Europe.
Its a process, and a long one. We pull them (Insano Muslims) closer to us, they pull us (Decadent westerners) a little towards them and we all meet together at that great Hummus place on Allenby street!!

Why are we there? 1. Oil, as has been adequately covered above, and 2. to protect the alcohol and tobacco industries (and their huge lobbying power) by suppressing production of all other mind-altering drugs, including the ones that are less harmful (both to the individual and society) than the above two. (Heroin is not one of those, admittedly, but neither do you become Amy Winehouse the moment you look at it.)

To which you might say “But IAN, because of all the instability the oil is going nowhere and with the removal of the Taliban heroin production has skyrocketed.” Of course. Our governments are *trying* to guarantee oil supplies and fight the War On Drugs That Aren’t Entrenched In Our Culture And Don’t Sponsor Sports Events And Invite Government Ministers To Champagne Parties In Corporate Boxes - as with virtually everything they try, they’re failing miserably. They’re government, what do you expect?

Some of you might appreciate Times columnist Anatole Kaletsky’s solution to the Afghanistan problem: the US/UK governments should buy their entire yearly poppy crop and use it to make diamorphine for hospitals. (My view is that this would get us nowhere as the opium would simply be stolen from the hospitals - as ketamine generally reaches the consumer via light-fingered stableboys and veterinary students - but it would at least be a more sensible solution than the status quo.)

oil…

@22: your opinion makes me sick. The US government installs a new government in Afghanistan claiming to ensure peace, freedom and democracy. And their own safety and economic interests for that matter.
You cannot invade another country for these reasons and still let barbaric things happen when claiming to be in controll.
The fact you don not care says it all. This is exactly the kind of ignorant arrogance the US is hated for by many.

It’s their religion and their country; let them do what they want. It’s not for us to judge. The US has a death penalty as well, so it’s not really something a US citizen can argue against easily I think. And the UK is not innocent either, I don’t believe it’s our fight, we shouldn’t be there. If the money spent on war was spent on education and healthcare, our nation would be in a much better position to use its forces wisely if it were to really need it.

28. Bawwwww. No-one cares. Not even you. You just pretend to care and get all huffy and self righteous about it. If you care so much you can let a few Afghan refugees live in your home and you can stand outside the US embassy every day to vent your spleen about it.

Or maybe you could just post shit about how terrible the US government is for letting the ragheads kill their own people on the internet instead of doing anything worthwhile like helping your elderly neighbours get their shopping or whatever.

PLEASE READ THIS

I know this is not the post to write about but I think it is urgent and I can’t contact Techcrunch directly (or at least I couldn’t find the link)….

[[[[[[[[[[ STATCOUNTER links are UNPROTECTED ]]]]]]]]]]]]

I was following some incoming links from visitors to my site,
and I followed one that bring me to statcounter.com, and I was INSIDE the account of somebody… I mean I could edit his profile… his billing address…

just be careful if you have an account at Statcounter…
I thought everybody should know it.

*Techcrunch, please delete this message from this post and put it wherever you consider (the trash is an option, since I don’t care too much

@10, Tom Clarke.
I have attended a training for police officers on drugs and organized crime in Istanbul (I was interpreting).
They have this huge map of drug movement around the world and on the map, synthetic drugs (extasy etc.) are mainly produced mainly in Europe (Holland) and are sold to East Europe countries, Arab Countries etc. But organic drugs like hashish, marijuana and pure cocaine are produced mainly in Afganistan, processed in Iran and Turkey (mainly Iran) and are sold to western Europe (France, England, Germany, etc)
And yes, after american invasion Production of organic drugs in Afganistan has increased almost 10 folds.

I blow off anyone that says we’re in there for “oil”. That’s just simple minded foolishness.

I do particularly like, however, the people that on the one hand didn’t want to lift a finger when Saddam was murdering people by the thousands, but completely freak about a “US backed government” when some idiot court does something stupid (and that will likely be overturned).

Seems to me that if the US wasn’t over there, these same people wouldn’t have said a thing. Why? Oh, because it’s for “oil”…..RIGHT…. morons.

OIL…OIL…OIL.

If I remember correctly, they were the guys that killed 3,000 Americans a few years back. That’s the reason we are there.

That country has been messed up for hundreds of years. It’s not going to get fixed in a overnight.

Web 2.0 Casualities in China and Afghsnistan, Thats why I run a Tech Blog in India Man.

http://tekno-world.blogspot.com

@ 30. Well let’s all shut up about the things we cannot change then.
I’m afraid though that getting shopping done doesn’t make the world any safer.

http://www.pa-chouvy.org/Chouv.....upply.html

“Morocco said to produce nearly half of the world’s hashish supply” - hardly surprising, really. It’s much easier to smuggle hash from Morocco to Spain than from Afghanistan to spain. Much of the EU (an area as large as the continental US and with a higher population now has completely open borders - hence the Morocco-Spain transit route).

Never thought I’d be discussing this on Techcrunch. Apologies for the off-topic discussion.

@ 15 (Alex)

Alex keep your mouth shut. I am a Pakistani, you don’t know anything about this country, so better keep your mouth shut.
Pakistani intelligence knew that India is making Nuclear Weapons, so we made Nuclear weapons too. After India tested their Nuclear weapon, they moved their army towards our border and were ready to attack Pakistan. The next day Pakistan tested their Nuclear weapon and Indians were stunned.

**In short Pakistan made Nuclear Weapons for self defense.

So don’t talk about stuffs which you do not know.

By the way Pakistani troops have targeted and killed many drug traffickers…but still it is difficult to stop these drug makers.

@33 “they were the guys that killed 3,000 Americans a few years back. That’s the reason we are there.”

I recommend you “the power of nightmares” an excelled documentary
http://video.google.com/videos.....s&so=0

after you watch (& digest) that, we can talk,

@33:

Come tell us how you slew those brave arabs two by two
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows
How you bravely slew each one with your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow

I wasn’t aware that political slurs were the foundation of TechCrunch?

Discussing the war may bring comments, but not the comments you want.

Leave this stuff out of TechCrunch.

@42

Never mind, but suppose you are to be hanged tomorrow and people in the world forgets about you and don’t comment about you situation in blogs and forums. How will you feel ?

Sometimes technology geeks need to talk about Politics too.

Stupid religions.

War isn’t supposed to solve problems. It’s supposed to get people rich. Get with the program.

Is Techcrunch turning into a political blog? If so I’m outta here. Stick to web 2.0 not that other garbage.

To all those who reflexively answer “OIL!” to the question “why are we in Afghanistan”, I ask you:

What percent of Afghanistan’s GDP is oil production or refinement? How many barrels per day does Afghanistan produce? How many barrels per day does Afghanistan export?

The answer to all three questions is ZERO.

Thanks for playing.

@45 exactly, you sell war to the sheeple with feel good rhetoric while holding up a bible and proclaiming in sideways comments that G-d wants this . Then they start sacrifice the poor and disenfranchised to secure resources, and re-pay political debts in backroom deals.. Thats just a historical fact. It goes back to the dawn of civilization.

We’re over there to secure our interests, such as a government that will do what we want it to. The minute they diverge from the marching orders from Washington, you can be sure there will be a nice quick regime change!

This thread of comments is truly impressive. I’ve repeatedly read what people feel is happening. Notice the word FEEL. We feel we have been properly informed. We feel we know the TRUTH.

Just from reading the differences here and how they are all off on different tangents this group really doesn’t seem to have much of a clue as to what’s going on. Maybe it’s time to stop telling people what we thing, making rash opinions on little information, and take the time to learn in detail what’s up and treat others with respect while we talk about it.

Just a thought….

37. How about you shut up whining about the shit that happens thousands of miles away that no-one cares about and start taking care of business around you, where you CAN make a difference.

All this BS about some raghead. He probably downloaded some fucking pedoporn and is getting what he deserves. Fuck him. And fuck all of you that want to impose your own BS values on his shitty country for killing one of their own.