Ramanisblog

Tag: Afghanistan

  • ‘Jihad No,Sharia As State Religion’ Muslims Survey

    A Survey conducted by Pew Research Center, reveals interesting peep into world Muslims thinking.

    How People see Islam
    How People see Islam

    Contrary to popular perception that Muslims favor Jihad, want women subjugated( this writer included), the Survey Findings lets us know that Muslims think as any one else.

    What is needed by Muslims is to back up their collective Will to throw away the crazy Mullahs who preach the obnoxious concepts like Jihad,Slavery of women.

    However Muslims have some more steps to take like emancipation of women and getting rid of Ghetto mentality of Pan Islamism.

    For instance while Muslims in  Islamic countries favored Sharia , they differed in its interpretations  they want it applicable in select areas, Property Rights,Divorce,

    ‘The percentage of Muslims who say they want sharia to be “the official law of the land” varies widely around the world, from fewer than one-in-ten in Azerbaijan (8%) to near unanimity in Afghanistan (99%). But solid majorities in most of the countries surveyed across the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia favor the establishment of sharia, including 71% of Muslims in Nigeria, 72% in Indonesia, 74% in Egypt and 89% in the Palestinian territories.’

    Jihad No,

    ‘Few U.S. Muslims voice support for suicide bombing or other forms of violence against civilians in the name of Islam; 81% say such acts are never justified, while fewer than one-in-ten say violence against civilians either is often justified (1%) or is sometimes justified (7%) to defend Islam. Around the world, most Muslims also reject suicide bombing and other attacks against civilians. However, substantial minorities in several countries say such acts of violence are at least sometimes justified, including 26% of Muslims in Bangladesh, 29% in Egypt, 39% in Afghanistan and 40% in the Palestinian territories.’

    On Freedom to practice other Religions in Islamic Countries.

    ‘At the same time, the survey finds that even in many countries where there is strong backing for sharia, most Muslims favor religious freedom for people of other faiths. In Pakistan, for example, three-quarters of Muslims say that non-Muslims are very free to practice their religion, and fully 96% of those who share this assessment say it is “a good thing.” Yet 84% of Pakistani Muslims favor enshrining sharia as official law. These seemingly divergent views are possible partly because most supporters of sharia in Pakistan – as in many other countries – think Islamic law should apply only to Muslims. Moreover, Muslims around the globe have differing understandings of what sharia means in practice.’

    On Treatment of Women in Islam.’Burqa.

    “In most countries surveyed, majorities of Muslim women as well as men agree that a wife is always obliged to obey her husband. Indeed, more than nine-in-ten Muslims in Iraq (92%), Morocco (92%), Tunisia (93%), Indonesia (93%), Afghanistan (94%) and Malaysia (96%) express this view. At the same time, majorities in many countries surveyed say a woman should be able to decide for herself whether to wear a veil.”

    Conflict between Science ,Religion and Modern Society.

    “Overall, the survey finds that most Muslims see no inherent tension between being religiously devout and living in a modern society. Nor do they see any conflict between religion and science. Many favor democracy over authoritarian rule, believe that humans and other living things have evolved over time and say they personally enjoy Western movies, music and television – even though most think Western popular culture undermines public morality’

    American Muslims View.

    ‘The new survey also allows some comparisons with prior Pew Research Center surveys of Muslims in the United States. Like most Muslims worldwide, U.S. Muslims generally express strong commitment to their faith and tend not to see an inherent conflict between being devout and living in a modern society. But American Muslims are much more likely than Muslims in other countries to have close friends who do not share their faith, and they are much more open to the idea that many religions – not only Islam – can lead to eternal life in heaven. At the same time, U.S. Muslims are less inclined than their co-religionists around the globe to believe in evolution; on this subject, they are closer to U.S. Christians.’

    Full Report at The Source;

    http://www.pewforum.org/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-exec.aspx

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  • US Pays Millions of Dollars To Hamid Karzai

    New York Times has just broken a story that the CIA has been paying

    ‘wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.

    All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.

    “We called it ‘ghost money,’ ” said Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai’s deputy chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. “It came in secret, and it left in secret.”

    The C.I.A., which declined to comment for this article, has long been known to support some relatives and close aidesof Mr. Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing.

    Moreover, there is little evidence that the payments bought the influence the C.I.A. sought. Instead, some American officials said, the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington’s exit strategy from Afghanistan.

    “The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan,” one American official said, “was the United States.”

    One should be shocked, but nobody is.

    The US has been known to pump in Millions of Dollars to Foreign Politicians to those who are in power and Opposition, the latter as an insurance.

    The list is big, starting from Ayub Khan,Yahya Khan.Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Perevez Musharraf  of Pakistan, their opposition Leaders like Nawaz Sharief.leading  Politicians from India ,Sri Lanka,all the countries from the Third World have been the recipients of the US’s largesse, not to forget the African, Latin American Countries.

    Nothing needs to be said of Central America.

    This,in addition to funds dispersed to Insurgents, natural or CIA inspired.

    The irony is all these efforts misfired.

    Had the US been doing nothing, The US would have saved money and those who received money would not turned against the US.

    I envisage hand wringing, passing the buck,a Senate Hearing,Voluminous Reports,all to ‘Nothing”

    Dostum
    Dostum

    “The United States was not alone in delivering cash to the president. Mr. Karzai acknowledged a few years ago that Iran regularly gave bags of cash to one of his top aides.

    At the time, in 2010, American officials jumped on the payments as evidence of an aggressive Iranian campaignto buy influence and poison Afghanistan’s relations with the United States. What they did not say was that the C.I.A. was also plying the presidential palace with cash — and unlike the Iranians, it still is.

    American and Afghan officials familiar with the payments said the agency’s main goal in providing the cash has been to maintain access to Mr. Karzai and his inner circle and to guarantee the agency’s influence at the presidential palace, which wields tremendous power in Afghanistan’s highly centralized government. The officials spoke about the money only on the condition of anonymity.”

    “

    We learn in the New York Times that the US is the latest to put Dostum on its payroll. With bags of cash channeled through Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the Central Intelligence Agency pays up to $100,000 a month to Dostum.

    Next year–a quarter century after the Soviet pullout–it is US forces who will withdraw from Afghanistan. The question is how long Karzai can hang on in the likely case that the CIA halts or lowers the millions of dollars in cash in all that has been dropped off at his office every month.

    The money goes to buy off the loyalty of Karzai’s retinue, and the local strongmen around the country who at least nominally are on his side. This is the way that Afghanistan has been governed since the Raj—the folks in Kabul keep a flow of patronage to the regions, and the regions stay on their side.

    After the NATO troops go, a foreign presence will remain in the form of oil and mining concerns in the north of the country, mainly from China, such as the China Metallurgical Group Corporation and the China National Petroleum Corporation.”

    Source:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html?hp

    http://qz.com/79222/afghan-president-hamid-karzai-and-abdul-rashid-dostum/

     

     

  • US Funds Terrorism Report Afghanistan,Syria

    The US , while fighting terrorism, may actually be funding it, a Report reveals.

     

    This is apart from the unknown Funds diverted by The CIA, whose Budget is tucked away neatly under innocuous Heads in such unexpected places like The Agriculture,Social Security ,Immigration Departments.

    In the shadowy world of Counter terrorism, one can not trust any one, yet, trust one has to ,at times, and the result ,in some cases, is that the funds are used to fight the Donor!

    Read On.

    The U.S. government may accidentally be funneling millions of dollars to the very terrorists and insurgents it’s fighting in Afghanistan through sloppy contracting regulations, according to a new government report.

    The report, called “Contracting With the Enemy” and published Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), examined the system designed to make sure that the U.S. reconstruction is not providing business for any individuals or groups associated with terrorist or insurgent organizations.

    SIGAR said that due to “several weaknesses” in the long and complicated process, “millions of contracting dollars could be diverted to forces seeking to harm U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan and derail the multi-billion dollar reconstruction effort.”..

    The report centered on what’s known as Section 841, part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that describes how the U.S. government is supposed to identify individuals or companies with suspected ties to insurgents, confirm that information, pass it along to the head of the contracting activity, then to the primary contractor and finally to the targeted subcontractors whose business deals would then be voided or restricted based on guidance from higher up.

    US Funds Terrorism In Syria too.
    US Funds Terrorism In Syria too.

    SIGAR said Section 841 was part of a “variety of efforts” undertaken by the government to keep American contracting money out of terrorists’ hands in the wake of incidents like the $2.16 billion Host Nation Trucking contract. In that instance, SIGAR said, the U.S. government paid several companies to ship more than 70 percent of food and materiel to American troops in Afghanistan, only to realize that some of those funds were “widely believed to have been funneled to insurgents.”..

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-unwittingly-fund-terrorism-afghanistan-report/story?id=18941109#.UWzKJ6JTB2Y

     US Funds in Taliban .

    A military-led investigation has found that US taxpayer money from trucking contracts in Afghanistan has indirectly found its way into Taliban coffers, the Pentagon confirmed today.

    An internal assessment by Task Force 2010, established to examine allegations of corruption in contracting, has found the problem to be even greater than previously reported. According to reports it determined that funds from a $2.16 billion trucking contract eventually found their way to the Taliban through a payment form a subcontractor to a corrupt local official, who then paid money and guns to the Taliban.

    Col Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the broad findings of the investigation, which was completed in May but has yet to be released to the public, but would not go into specifics. He was unable to confirm how much American money ended up in Taliban hands.

    According to the Washington Post, which first reported details of the investigation, in one case millions of dollars were traced through a web of subcontractors and eventually into the bank account of an Afghan National Police commander. Investigators then found that money was in turn used to provide weapons, explosives, and cash to insurgents.

    Details of the report sparked outrage on Capitol Hill. Rep John Tierney, D-MA and the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, called for immediate oversight hearings to investigate the matter.

    “One year after Congress first demanded attention to these issues, we continue to hear from Pentagon officials that they are aggressively increasing oversight over these contracts and taxpayer money. But so far it has been all talk and no action,” Tierney said in a statement.

    “It defeats all of our purposes to be funding the enemy in Afghanistan,” he added…(ABC News)

    DOWNLOAD: SIGAR’s ‘Contracting With the Enemy’ (PDF)

    US Funds Terrorism In Syria.

    Syrian authorities accused the United States on Saturday of financing terrorist groups in Syria and interfering with the country’s domestic affairs, diplomats said.

     

    In its statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry referred to State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland who “recommended that terrorists do not surrender to Syrian authorities” on Friday.

     

    The Foreign Ministry called on the international community “to come out against such a policy that contradicts the international law and UN Security Council resolutions on the fight against terrorism and its funding.

    http://en.rian.ru/world/20111105/168437593.html

     

  • Osama Bin Laden Killing Declassified Documents Bio

    I will be posting a series of Documents on the Assassination of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

    These files have been declassified and give an insight into the operation against Osama Bin Laden.

    “Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011 – The Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, killed in Pakistan by U.S. special operations forces yesterday, ranked as “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic terrorist activities in the world” as early as 1996, according to declassified U.S. documents posted on the web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University (www.nsarchive.org).

    The Osama Bin Laden File includes the CIA’s 1996 biographic sketch [Transcription], the infamous President’s Daily Brief from 6 August 2001 warning “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” a State Department issue paper from 2005 reporting that “some Taliban leaders operate with relative impunity in some Pakistan cities,” the 400-page Sandia National Laboratories profile of Bin Laden focusing on the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2006 State Department cable on the Taliban’s regrouping in Pakistan’s tribal areas making them “a sanctuary beyond the reach of either Government,” the demands made on Pakistan right after 9/11 by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and theonly known conversation between the U.S. government and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

    Osama Bin Laden
    Osama Bin Laden

    *             *             *

    One of the earlier publicly available documentary mentions of Bin Laden comes from a 1996 CIA bio sketch entitled “Usama Bin Laden: Islamic Extremist Financer” [Transcription]. It describes Bin Laden, “who joined the Afghan resistance movement in 1979,” as “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world.” According to The New York Times, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the CIA actually helped Bin Laden – who supplied construction equipment from his family’s company in Saudi Arabia – to construct the Tora Bora complex as a base to fight the Soviets.  According to Bin Laden, “The [Mujahidin’s] weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis.”

    Almost a decade later, Bin Laden would make good use of his earlier investment. A 1997 State Department cable reported that he had likely retreated into hiding at Tora Bora, stating “bin Ladin had lived in caves south of Jalalabad in Tora Bora and the Taliban had become suspicious.” In December 2001, US troops engaged in a fierce firefight at Tora Bora, hoping to smoke out the Al Qaeda leader. The Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were overrun but Bin Laden was not among the killed or captured.

    The earlier CIA bio indicates that after the 1989 victory over the Soviets, Bin Laden, while living in Saudi Arabia and Sudan, created “a network of al-Qaida recruitment centers and guesthouses in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan and has enlisted and sheltered thousands of Arab recruits.” The document also accused Bin Laden of “providing financial support” for the 1992 bombings against US servicemen in Somalia, “at least three terrorist training camps in Sudan” and one in Afghanistan, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

    In mid-1996, Bin Laden moved from Sudan to Afghanistan where he lived and operated under the umbrella of the Taliban. From there, he plotted the August 1998 bombings of two American embassies, in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed hundreds and wounded thousands more. In response, President Bill Clinton authorized the first U.S. official attempt to kill him. The problem was how to find him.  While CIA and U.S. military personnel tried to come up with actionable intelligence on his whereabouts, American diplomats in Afghanistan attempted to persuade Bin Laden’s Taliban hosts to give him up.  AState Department cable provided an unusual window into the bizarre negotiations, including recording the suggestion by a Taliban intermediary that the U.S. “arrange for bin Laden to be assassinated” because the Taliban could do nothing to prevent it.

    In 1999, Sandia National Laboratories compiled a 400-page profile of Bin Laden – far more comprehensive than the CIA’s brief 1996 sketch, and no doubt reflecting his stratospheric rise in importance to the United States. The report found that the African embassy attacks did not take the U.S. by surprise, given its existing counterterrorism intelligence capabilities.  It added that the retaliatory cruise missile strikes orderd by Clinton – which unfortunately destroyed a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant and killed several suspected terrorists training in Afghanistan instead of their intended targets – “did little to help solve the problem posed by bin Laden and may ultimately prove to have done more harm than good.” The Sandia analysts concluded – chillingly – that the bombings showed “The ‘war’ on terrorism will never be ‘won.’”

    On 25 January 2001 the National Security Council’s senior counterterroism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, sent a now-famous memo to incoming National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice which warned, “al Qida is not some narrow, little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy.” The memo referenced the Al Qaeda suicide attack on USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, which killed 17 sailors and injured 39 others.  Clarke recommended that the United States “respond at a time, place, and manner of our own choosing,” pleading, “we urgently need … a Principals level review on the al Qida network [emphasis in original].”

    Less than nine months later, nineteen Al Qaeda operative hijacked four planes and struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

     Laboratories, “Osama bin Laden: A Case Study,” December 6,

     

    But the stepped-up pressure failed to produce all the desired results, and Pakistan soon became protected territory for the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Immediately after September 11, according to an unnamed Pakistani security official, “the tribes were overawed by US firepower.” But by the time this quote was made to a senior State Department in Islamabad (reported in an embassy cable on 13 November 2002), “that window had closed.” The Federally Administered Tribal Areas were once again “no go areas.”

    Three years later, in late 2005, the situation had not changed.  Despite Pakistan’s formal denials that it was a safe haven for anti-American forces, a State Department Issue Paper for the Vice President confirmed that indeed “some Taliban leaders operate with relative impunity in some Pakistani cities, and may still enjoy support from the lower echelons of Pakistan’s ISI.”

    Source:

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/index.htm

    Source.

    NSA Archives.

    Related;

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/osama_bin_laden_file04.pdf

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  • Airline Lunches Soldiers UK India

    Indian Army
    Indian Army

     

    Airline Lunches I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat.

    It was going to be a long flight from Gatwick.

    ‘I’m glad I have a good book to read Perhaps I will get a short sleep,’

    I thought. Just before take-off, a line of British Army Youngsters came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me.

    I decided to start a conversation.

    ‘Where are you blokes headed?’ I asked the Young man seated nearest to me.

    Cyprus . We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan .

    After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that lunches were available for five pounds.

    It would be several hours before we reached Cyprus , and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time..

    As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his mate if he planned to buy lunch.

    ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just an airline lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five Quid. I’ll wait till we get to Cyprus ….

    His mate agreed. I looked around at the other soldiers.

    None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty Pound note.

    ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers..’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly.

    Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My young bloke was a soldier in Iraq , it’s almost like you are doing it for him.

    Picking up ten lunchboxes, she headed up the aisle to where the boys were seated.

    She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best – beef or chicken?

    ‘ ‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked.

    She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.

    This is your thanks. After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room.

    An old bloke stopped me.

    ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five Pounds.

    Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he wasn’t looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.

    When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’

    Quickly unfastening my seat-belt I stood and took the Captain’s hand.

    With a booming voice he said, ‘I was an army pilot a long time back.

    Once someone bought me lunch.

    It was an act of kindness I never forgot.

    ‘ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

    Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.

    A kid who looked about 18 was sitting about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine.

    He left another twenty-five Pounds In my palm.

    When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to depart.

    Waiting just inside the aeroplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word.

    Another twenty-five Pounds! Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their Trip up to their training area.

    I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five Pounds.

    It will take you some time to reach your training area. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You Blokes.’

    Ten young blokes left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow Brits.

    As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return.

    These soldiers were giving their all for our country.

    I could only give them a couple of meals.

    It seemed so little…

    A British Serviceman is someone who,
    at one point in his life, wrote a blank
    cheque made payable to
    ‘ United Kingdom ‘
    for an amount of
    ‘up to and including my life.’
    That is Honour, and there are way
    too many foreigners in this country
    who don’t understand it.’ 

    This is India.

    CHANDIGARH: Strange but true! Rs 2,550, that’s the amount which the Army feels, is sufficient to deny family pension to dependent parents of a soldier, who dies in a mishap.

    According to the Army regulations issued on August 26, 1998, if the death of a soldier (including jawans and officers) is not attributable or aggravated by military service, his dependent parents would be entitled to ordinary family pension, provided their income from all sources is less than Rs 2,550 per month.(TOI  20 June 2011)

    The Adarsh Housing Society is a cooperative society in the city of Mumbai in India. The origins of the scam go back to February 2002 when a request was made to the Chief Minister ofMaharashtra to allot land in the heart of Mumbai for the construction of a housing complex for “the welfare of serving and retired personnel of the Defence Services”. Over a period of ten years, top politicians, bureaucrats and military officers proceeded to bend several rules and perpetrate various acts of omission and commission in order to have the building constructed and then get themselves allotted flats in this premier property at artificially lowered prices. As the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to the President of India in 2011 put it, “The episode of Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society reveals how a group of select officials, placed in key posts, could subvert rules and regulations in order to grab prime government land- a public property- for personal benefit.”[1] The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate(ED) are in the process of investigating allegations that three former chief ministers, Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan of the state of Maharashtra were also involved in the scam.[2][3]

    In an interview to The Hindu published on 26 March 2012, General VK Singh, the Chief of Army Staff ascribed many of the attempts to malign him during his tenure to, amongst others, those he described as “the Adarsh lobby”, those directly connected to the scam, as well as those who were affected by his efforts to rid the army of corruption.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adarsh_Housing_Society_scam

    Thanks Prasad.