OzOne wrote in message ...
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:40:59 -0500, Capt. Neal®
scribbled thusly:

Notice how all the dire predictions the liberals had about
Afghanistan have not come true. Notice how the libs no
longer mention Afghanistan because it proves how wrong
they were about it.

Maybe you could read this

http://tinyurl.com/3j9nw

The Taliban, which is growing in strength, has vowed to thwart the
elections. Its daily attacks on voter registration has killed 650
people so far, including several foreigners. Seventeen men were killed
in June, supposedly because they were carrying voter registration
cards.

The Afghan women willing to talk to me openly about the issue told me
they would not register, nor vote, because, "it's just too risky".
They lived in Kabul, where voter security will supposedly be
"guaranteed" by NATO's omnipresent International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF).

The UN rates 169 of the country's 361 territories as medium or high
risk. Much of this area is off limits to UN staff. UNDP admits that
"due to financial, logistical and security constraints the
registration exercise could not be expanded to the provinces, as
originally scheduled".

Security is not the only thing hampering the voter registration
process. In many areas, particularly in the south, socio-cultural
factors stop women from registering. Even if the current UN estimate
that 40% of registrations are women is correct, there needs to be
substantial progress in reversing women's restricted mobility and
participation in public life, their lack of access to information and
their dismal literacy levels (21%), to ensure anything resembling
equal access to the electoral process.

It is difficult to believe the highly publicised registration count.
Last week, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana rang Karzai to
congratulate him on his choice of running mate for the election and
commend him on the voter registration level - supposedly 7.5 million
out of the estimated 10 million eligible voters. With the country
still in ruins, 180,000 displaced persons and more than 2 million
refugees in the surrounding region, all of whom are eligible to vote,
such a figure is implausible.

And the US is supporting a terrorist financier
"US-backed candidates

Transitional president Karzai comes from an influential, southern
Afghan family of Pashtun origin. He funnelled arms and funds to
mujaheddin, and is a former supporter of the Taliban, before he turned
on it at the behest of his US backers. "

Oz,
are you aware that the US was deprived of vital Heroin imports under the
Taliban regime? Production is now almost restored to pre-war levels and
Neal and JL are once again able to use their laptops!


Regards


Donal
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