The international aid trough

The way the US & its media minions turn lies into accepted fact is to keep repeating them like a drum beat, regardless of substantial countervailing evidence. It seemed for a while they’d abandoned the vile rubbish about US-NATO marines liberating Afghan women. But this morning, it reared its ugly head again. In an unseemly invasion of privacy & grief, Getty Images posted a photo of an Afghan family at the hospital bedside of their 5-year-old girl raped by a 22-year-old man. The caption says: “There is little sign that violence against women in Afghanistan is decreasing, despite billions of dollars of international aid which has poured into the country during the decade-long war. Some 87 percent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage, according to figures quoted in an October report by the British charity Oxfam.”

There is no question violence against women in Afghanistan is egregious & pervasive. In what country on this planet, isn’t it? The constant wars & plunder have only increased the quotient of violence against women & children because rape is a weapon of war & because prostitution is auxiliary to armies. So it is the most repugnant cynicism to claim US-NATO soldiers are agents of female liberation rather than agents of racist colonialism. It is shameful many US feminists have bought into this racist baloney--since the US military has never enforced women’s rights here or anywhere else. More importantly, hundreds of women soldiers have accused the military brass of turning its back on the rampant problem of rape in the military.

But this morning’s news report just handed truth another weapon. No one knows for sure how much money has actually been received in Afghanistan but billions have indeed been pledged in 11 years of war. Just a few months ago, an international aid conference in Tokyo pledged $16 billion in non-military aid to Afghanistan over the next 4 years. The US is secretive about what it intends to give but that may be like in Haiti, where they pledged billions & gave nothing. Of course, the question is, what happened to all that money? No one trusts the corrupt, US-puppet Karzai government so the money is likely not going there. Is it funneled through the ever-present NGOs, like Oxfam? And what the hell are they doing with it? Someone is feeding at the trough because only a lying fool would claim those billions are going to social services of any kind for the Afghans--health, housing, or food. So we have a situation here: billions pledged & no accountability!? Well isn’t that a peculiar & irresponsible way of running international aid! It appears the heist is on, that grand larceny, criminal neglect, & low-down dirty politics is involved. Oxfam might better spend its time & money investigating that than in drumming up justification for US-NATO occupation.

These Afghan children are among nearly 2 million Afghan refugees living in a squalid slum outside Islamabad, Pakistan. They are clearly not feeding at the aid trough. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen)