GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

AUGUST 31ST IS SACROSANCT TO ANY FUTURE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TALIBAN.

ICHEOKU says once again Joe Biden has proved that he is the right fit in the White House at this moment. By standing firmly against the G7 minus one's attempt to extend the withdrawal date, he displayed an uncanny courage and it is commendable. They and their American defense industries collaborators wanted to achieve a different outcome from the one already afoot, under the pretense of needing more time to complete the evacuation, aware that such extension will trigger a Taliban reaction and thus rekindle the conflict. But thankfully, Joe Biden is too experienced for their game and caught them in their ploy and has resolutely rejected their ruse. 

ICHEOKU says is emphatic that at 600 persons per a plane, all potential evacuees in Afghanistan could be safely evacuated within the remaining seven days once the will to do so is present. All it will require is to summon all available air assets, both military and civilian, from America, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, NATO, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and if still not enough, ask from Turkey and even Russia, for their A380 and Tupolev airplanes. One hundred airplanes would do the trick and America have more than that number of airplanes, talkless of many more from NATO and other countries. Therefore, not doing it is not an option as it is a task that must be done and the Taliban are so far cooperating and this grace period should be maximumly exploited.

The August 31st final date for full withdrawal of American troops in Afghanistan should be treated as an inviolable commitment and therefore, imperative that the word given by America be kept. So far, the Taliban have showed good faith and have kept their part of the bargain by not resuming hostilities and attacking American troops. They have also maintain law and order in Afghanistan and have not started cracking down on Afghanis, including their women. It is also noteworthy that they previously agreed to an extension of the withdrawal date from the former set date of May 1st. So, faltering on this rescheduled date of August 31st will be stretching their patience and unduly tasking our mother luck, which has thus far helped keep them under within reason. 

It is therefore imperative that America also show them some reciprocity that their own word do mean a thing as well and that they can be trusted to do something whenever they say they would. It is about establishing a bond of trust between them which can be exploited in future dealings with them. They have kept their side of the bargain, so let nobody give them a reason to go back to their old bad behavior and resume the killing of American troops once again. Therefore under no condition whatsoever must America renege on the August 31st deadline agreed date for final withdrawal of every American troop from Afghanistan. If it means moving mountains or heavens and earth, so be it; but the honor of America is at stake and everything humanly doable must be done to keep it maintained.

The goodwill established so far, giving their words and keeping them, should be harnessed and sustained for future use. But should America renege and even if hostilities does not resume immediately, they will never believe anything that comes out of Washington DC. This will be  inimical to any America's future relationship with the Taliban because they will always see America as untrustworthy and having reneged once with their promise, they will most likely always renege again. It is a test of the weight of American given word; and candor demands that America performed its obligation strictly according to the text on which it is written. It is not a question of wriggling out of it or just doing it because America can; no, it is about America's credibility.

Those clamoring for extension of the deadline are merely exploring ways to sabotage the process and find a reason to send troops back into Afghanistan. They want to break the agreement and then goad the Taliban to shoot and kill American troops; and then, say, see, the Taliban are killing Americans and we must defend and protect them. Then more soldiers will be ordered back and hostilities will once again resume and torpedo the Afghanistan final pullout. This is their intention, the reason for the many excuses; because America can easily evacuate even 100,000 people with a scaled up operation. Please Joe Biden, continue to remain strong, stay the course and resolute that the mission be accomplished by August 31st as resuming hostilities is not an option.

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

TALIBAN NAMES GOVERNING COUNCIL WITH FORMER PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI IN IT.

ICHEOKU says Taliban has revealed that Afghanistan will be governed by a 12-member council which includes Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mullah Yaqub, Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, former President Hamid Karzai,  Hanif Atmar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. They named seven members as agreed so far, with five more to go. They are finally consolidating power. 

ICHEOKU says have always suspected the former president was a two-faced, double dealing, member of the Taliban. He was always defending them and castigating American troops, accusing them of committing war crimes and genocide on his people for targeting Taliban fighters, who he called his brothers in Islam and fellow Afghanis. The whole blurry vision about what actually took place in Afghanistan is finally crystallizing, a welcome development for Afghanis. They are all Taliban, whether closeted or in the open and the West practically have no other choice in the matter than to find a way to work with them. #KarzaiTheTaliban.

EVACUATION OF AFGHANIS IS NOT THE SOLUTION: ENGAGE THE TALIBAN NOW.

ICHEOKU says evacuating Afghanis from their homeland will not solve any problem, rather it will exacerbate them and hinder the effort at building back better their country. Once the fairly good brains now being drained out of the country through the needless and unnecessary evacuation are gone, the leftover will not be well equipped or positioned to sustain the effort of modernizing the country. As a result, the most likelihood that it will have a free fall back into the abyss where it was in the 90s. It will end up being a case where a medicine killed the patient it was meant to save. Even any merit in the idea such as to try and save as many of them as possible, will fade when juxtaposed to a total and complete loss of Afghanistan, with the failed state status which is looming. 

A country where a "medical doctor" could not appreciate the danger of hanging on the outside of a taxing, soon to be airborne airplane and eventually plunged down to his spattered death on the tarmac from hundreds of feet, is a country with so many deeply brain-dead people that further poaching the little manpower they have is simply inconsiderate and callous at best. What is the point of still depriving someone of sleep when you cannot give him bed to sleep on. Afghanistan deserves all the manpower and brain power they can find right now and it is injurious to take away the little they have. It will only accelerate their descent back into the catastrophic 90s, in their old ways, with little or no qualified people left to steer the country in this day of internet technology driven world.

Western countries seeking to help Afghanistan should have concentrated their energies more on the big picture prize which will be more beneficial to the nearly 40 million Afghanis rather than the convenience of the few tens of thousands they are taking out of the country. Helping Afghanistan to stabilize by engaging the Taliban to ensure that they govern within acceptable tolerable rules should have been a preferred best approach. But weakening them by providing temporary relief and succor to those who somewhat "betrayed" their country, working with the American "invaders", is not a friendly policy. What becomes the fate of the over 39 million Afghanis that will be left behind and at the "mercy of the Taliban?" 

Evacuation is short sighted at best, a bandaid to a huge laceration and should have been discouraged and avoided in the interest of a stabilized Afghanistan. A long term solution should have been the focus of the West because a completely destabilized Afghanistan will be an added insult to the injury of the chaotic pullout as everything labored for the past twenty years would be completely and totally lost. At least the Taliban have made some assurances of good and better behavior; therefore working closely with them to make sure that they deliver on their promises would have been a better foot forward. It will lead to a more positive result than all the retributions, including economic sanctions, now being hatched at 10 Downing Street and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The fact of the matter is that there is no amount of evacuation of Afghanis that will be enough. If 100,000 of them are taken out, how about the remainder 39 million plus? There will still be a very large number of them left behind and all Europe, America, Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand and Japan do not have enough space to accommodate all of them. Even if there is enough space and the woke political leaders decide to overrun their own citizens with Afghanis,  there will be consequential resistance by the citizens who would not tolerate being ran over and to some extent displaced by foreign Afghanis flooding their country. 

It might be difficult for the bruised ego of the West, but engaging the Taliban is still the best solution since the reality on the ground affirms they are now the only authority there. Russia and China have indicated interest in accepting the Taliban and so should the West before it is completely displaced and replaced by those who did not spend blood and treasure trying to "build a nation" out of such a tribal vassal arid land, with over 60 distinct tribes with very distinct loyalties forged on thousands of years of feuding and bloodletting. The mistake has been made and now the solution should be the only focus. There should be no sanctions on Afghanistan, at least not now; diplomatic arm twisting, using their mentors in the Islamic world, many of who are Western allies too, is the ideal approach. Lets the West try something different. 

Monday, August 23, 2021

KABUL SNAFU: AN INDICTMENT ON THOSE TASKED WITH THE LAST CALL.

ICHEOKU says so the inept former President Ashraf Ghani pled with America not to evacuate completely from Afghanistan in order not to cause panic among the population; but why was the evacuation not done quietly without arousing the public. Why were the other five bases successfully closed but not Bagram base? What was the urgency that caused the early shutter of Bagram base on May 6th before the set due date of August 31st? It was more than one month period which could have been used to evacuate every evacuee and avoided the surged evacuation at Kabul airport, which created the picture of Afghanistan on fire, run, run, run. 

Everyone needing to be evacuated would have been easily contacted from a database and scheduled for a day certain to be at the airport for onward departure to their destination. So, why was this period not spent doing the airlift which would have been completed or about being completed by now and before the August 31st final pullout. The mission to Afghanistan was to find Osama bin Laden and he was found and killed in 2011; which technically was about the time the mission was completed and the troops should have been brought home. The military would have been making arrangements on how to wind down their mission in Afghanistan right from then. 

So, crunched time should not have been a reason for why the evacuation was muddled up because there was several weeks still left to complete the task by August 31st when whoever made the call to beat made it in May. That person is who should be taking the fall for whatever is being witnessed at Kabul airport that is threatening to destabilize Afghanistan and nobody else. What was the urgency that necessitated the rush when they still had more time to conclude a  mission that was previously scheduled for May 1st and later extended to August 31st. Who signed off on it despite billions of dollars in weapons and equipments which were neither shipped out, destroyed or even handed off to American allies world over. 

There is no country offered American weapons for free who will not gladly pay for the cost of shipping them to them. So, whose wisdom was to abandon such highly priced and valued American weapons in Afghanistan which the Taliban have now taken hold of. What if they start to export these weapons to terrorists all over the world? What if they hand them over to countries that are hostile to America or use the rocket launchers/missiles to target planes. What if Iran buys them for their technology? What if Pakistan commandeers them and use them in their skirmishes against India? How about China and Russia, could they possibly be interested in acquiring them to see the level of sophistication of current American weaponry. 

What were those in charge of completing the task of withdrawal been doing all these years since they were ordered to withdraw from Afghanistan? The military executes as ordered and with military efficiency, so why was the task of withdrawing from Afghanistan not fully implemented as expected. If those weapons left behind were meant for Afghanistan National Army (ANA), what are they doing with night vision capabilities, Apache helicopters and biometric facial recognition devices which they hardly know how to operate, since they will be fighting only AK47 wielding terrorists and have two friendly neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, both fellow acute Islamism countries, with no chance of ever going to war with either.  

Why such huge wastage of American public's funded weapons and equipments; only in the next budget to ask for billions of dollars in new military equipments and weaponry. Something does not look right with the picture, regardless of the appropriateness or lack thereof of the order for final withdrawal from Afghanistan. It looks like the implementation was purposely undermined and sabotaged to force a reversal of course and have American troops sent back into Afghanistan. They had several years to carry out the withdrawal and an additional six months since Joe Biden came into office, to complete a process which was already largely completed, yet it came to such embarrassing scenes as seen at Kabul airport.

ICHEOKU says whatever went wrong occurred during the last few weeks leading up to the July 6th sudden beat it out of Bagram base. It should be investigated to unearth the underlying factors as it is not a good image for America, particularly American military who did all they were asked to do in Afghanistan, plus more, only for those politically skewed officials in Washington DC to fumble the ball at the final hour. If only they had concentrated on their professional role as defenders of America from its foreign enemies and not mired themselves in Washington DC domestic Woke politics, possibly the mission in Afghanistan would have flawlessly and smoothly concluded without the dent that is the ruckus at Kabul airport. 

But thankfully, the Taliban have managed to maintain order so far in the rest of the city of Kabul, and there is no major or total break down of law and order. Their swift move into Kabul averted an otherwise assured complete anarchy which the corrupt and inept President Ashraf Ghani's cowardly abrupt flee would have brought down on Kabul. Taliban should be commended for this, albeit most reluctantly. General Frank McKenzie have some explaining to do on why the effort he was charged with the task ended with such a thumbing down at the tailed of it. As for the defense secretary and other chiefs at the Pentagon, their commander in chief should decide if their performance warrant commendation, promotion, being written up, demoted or even fired for a job not so well done, at least in the eyes of the world. #SupportsTheDecision.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

TALIBAN LEADERSHIP SURVIVED: SO, WHO THEN WERE KILLED OR CAPTURED?

ICHEOKU says it appears that all the Taliban leaders who American troops went to Afghanistan to hunt down, kill or capture, survived after-all. They are doing well and now readying themselves to resume their power holding venture in Afghanistan. Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Halbatullah Akhundzada, co-founder and political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Khalil Haqqani of the Haqqani Network, fearsome mujahideen Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, Adbul Qatar and other well known Taliban top heavies apparently survived the 20 years hunt for them. So, who then was killed in the American led "search and kill"  of Taliban mission to Afghanistan since even the one-eyed Mujahideen Mullah Mohammed Omar died of natural causes. What happened in Afghanistan since the proverbial head of snake was not cut off; or has American people been had all this past twenty years, lied to, fed with propaganda and absolutely brainwashed about the American military and intelligence exploits in Afghanistan. 

With this background, is it then possible that conspiracy theorists who maintain that 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden is still alive might after-all be right or have strong basis for their assertion? As a disclaimer, ICHEOKU says believes that he is dead based on that telling released photograph of a flinching Hillary Clinton. With this many Taliban leaders still alive and left unscathed, what then has America troops been doing the last twenty years, "fighting" the Taliban in Afghanistan. Was it by design or did the Taliban outsmart American military and intelligence operatives in Afghanistan. Without decimating the Taliban leadership, how did America leadership not know that the group might eventually resurrect, regroup and make a bid back to power in Kabul. 

Is there something which we are not being told or was it the plan from the get go, just in case the experiment with democracy did not turn out right and America did not want to leave Afghanistan without some form of a controlling authority. Is it possible that the Taliban coming back to power was meticulously orchestrated by the same forces who went to Afghanistan to put them out of commission? A report out of Pakistan claims that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was once arrested and imprisoned by the Pakistani authorities but that Washington DC pressured  Pakistan president to release him and then put him in a safe asylum in Qatar. So, is the Taliban the eventual backup plan by America when they leave Afghanistan, aware that the government in place was inept  to secure Afghanistan. 

ICHEOKU says does not have sufficient information to make a conclusion one way or the other; but maintains that the fact that all these Taliban leaders survived after twenty years of manhunt for them, with all the sophisticated listening gadgets and surveillance capabilities of America on the ground, is an indication that possibly some backroom deals were made with the understanding that they will eventually step in and take over once America leaves. This equally possibly explains the easy with which the negotiation with the Taliban was established as channels of cooperating were already in place and the Taliban leadership was willing and able to meet America half way. It also possibly explains why the Afghanistan government of President Ashraf Ghani was sidelined and totally shut out throughout the negotiations. 

What is going on people? Why are they not sharing with the world the real reason Taliban was allowed to return back to power in Afghanistan, disguised as a successful Taliban military routing of Afghanistan National Army (ANA). Why was the withdrawal mission short-circuited by over one month, with those charged with the withdrawal process abandoning Afghanistan more than one month earlier on July 6th before the scheduled August 31st date of final withdrawal. Why did they leave Afghanistan by stealth and in the middle of the night, without even notifying the Afghanistan commander who took over or was to take over Baghram military base, at least as a courtesy that they were leaving? Was their relationship and lack of trust and respect for the Ashraf Ghani's government so low that they considered him unworthy.

ICHEOKU says saw a documentary on British Camp Bastion where Afghanistan new commander was complaining that the British army stripped bare the camp; and that if the concrete barriers were not too heavy for their plane, that it was possible they would also taken them as they left. Even some vehicles and equipments on the base were destroyed and blown up by the departing British army, leaving only generators and some officers dwelling portakabins and watch towers, but without the things which would aided the new Afghanistan soldiers to effectively maintain a hold on the base. There are just so many moving parts, whirling at such a dizzying high speed, that nobody actually knows what exactly really happened in Kabul. Stuff as were captured on video in Kabul airport do not necessarily happen with advanced military forces, which normally plans and provides for every imaginable contingencies, except it was part of a a grand scheme which they didn't know will be televised.

Hopefully, these are not too intrusive questions; but the videos and pictures of an unmanaged pandemonium at Kabul airport were otherwise avoidable, and if only those charged with the task  of completing the withdrawal had done their jobs as expected. But they were rather penny wise pound foolish, as they cut and ran with still more than one month time frame left in their schedule. They could have gotten it right at one try, instead, they are now back to try and clean the mess which they created by their action. The more than thirty days which they shaved off would have been more than enough for an orderly complete evacuation of even hundreds of thousands of people (9k per day), including the twenty thousand plus minus Americans in Afghanistan. 

It calls for accountability and since none of them have fallen on their sword just yet, hopefully Joe Biden will man up and ask for their resignations or rather just fire them for failing in their mission to execute his order on the final withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is also possible that they intentionally sabotaged the mission to discredit America's withdrawal from Afghanistan and use it to push for an extension. But thankfully, Joe Biden is standing squarely firm to ensure that the Afghanistan mission was finally ended. It is what majority of American people want and Joe Biden serves at their behest; and acts based on what is in their best interest. As for all those countries in Europe and Britain mouthing off, how many of their country men and women were lost in Afghanistan and what amount of resources did they expend in Afghanistan. 

The combined total loss in blood and treasure of all the NATO members combined are less than one half of the total loss by America. It is not fair nor equitable and they have no moral grounds to condemn or even question America's withdrawal from Afghanistan. They should know that they are also free to continue with the mission on their own if they so chooses. The population of Europe and United Kingdom put together is close to a billion people (801 million); as opposed to America's mere 350 million people, yet America bore most of the burden involved. This explains their mouthing off because they are not the one doing the heavy lifting and merely rode shotgun alongside America. They should therefore hush as America has smartened up not to be used and abused any longer by our so called allies in name only. 

Good enough the Taliban are gradually securing their country and very soon, law and order will be fully restored in Afghanistan so that they can continue a smooth running of operation build back better of Afghanistan. With it done, the orchestrated mess at the Kabul airport will become a thing of a distant past, left in the rearview memory where it rightly belongs. With that done, the  curtain on the overextended mission in Afghanistan will finally be drawn shut, closed for good. Once again, ICHEOKU says the decision to end the Afghanistan mission was a right one and Joe Biden will be favorably remembered for having the guts to finally do what other past presidents wanted to do, but were pressured out of doing. Afghanistan is for Afghanis and the Talibans too are Afghanis. Let them be allowed and supported as they run their country. 

Saturday, August 21, 2021

HAITI IN DIRE STRAIT: SHAME ON AMERICAN MEDIA BIAS, HAITIAN BLACK LIVES MATTER.

ICHEOKU says America's neighbor Haiti is so desperately in need and already nearly flatlined while America spent a mind boggling amount of resources "nation-building" in far away Afghanistan, thousands of miles away in Central Asia. Imagine what a fraction of the $2 trillion wasted on Afghanistan could have done in Haiti and helped it stood a better chance each time a natural disaster struck. Haiti is presently reeling on its back, totally deprived and in dire need of practically every life sustaining things including food, water, medicines and shelter. But the world is not paying much attention to Haiti as most of American media are directing focus elsewhere, ginning up the airport snafu in Kabul as if the world has come to an end; and not giving enough coverage to the disaster in Haiti where so much help is needed and should be surged to. 

Meanwhile only about 12 people have lost their lives in Afghanistan since Kabul fell to the Taliban, but in Haiti, more than 2,194 people have lost their lives and 12,000 others seriously wounded since the earthquake struck the island; with several hundred others believed still trapped beneath the rubbles. But instead of putting more of world's focus on such naturally more pressing situation, the American media and their Western allies have diverted attention from Haiti to Afghanistan and you wonder if the color of the victims has anything to do with. Speaking of Black Lives Matter and you wonder if Haitians black lives do in fact really matter as well. 

Millions of Haitians, including women and few days old babies are sleeping in the open, being re-traumatized by storm, cold rains and wind. Many of them are without food and water for several days now; many of the 12,000 injured have not been seen nor treated by doctors and their open wound is festering with every minute left untreated. Most of their homes have been damaged and destroyed by the earthquake. They are literary desolate and abandoned; and above all they are just a few miles south of Florida, inside America's sphere of geopolitical influence and figuratively, America's backyard. 

But nobody in Washington DC, including Kamala Harris who is black herself, whose father is Jamaican, a neighboring country to Haiti, has lifted their voices loudly and powerfully enough to be heard over the tragedies in Haiti. Even America's Black Lives Matter Inc has mostly remained indifferent to the suffering in Haiti; but the same confused people raised hell when Israel was defending itself from the Hamas terrorists who were firing rockets into Israel just a few months ago, shouting that Palestinian lives matter. ICHEOKU says how about Haitian lives, they are black or are they not black enough to be considered worthy for BLM Inc to intervene? 

It is obvious that something is inertly wrong with black people as they do not seem to care about their own, otherwise why would Kamala Harris be in Washington DC and BLM have the power they have in America and the situation in Haiti is this horrible. Haiti was still suffering from the assassination of their President Jovenel Mosie when the earthquake struck, killed over two thousand Haitians and injured more than twelve thousand others. Before that, the earthquake which struck them in 2010 killed over 300,000 Haitians and nearly completely wiped out their infrastructure including their Presidential palace. Hasn't Haiti suffered enough for America to meaningfully help them?

Where was America's large scale response to help Haiti recover? Instead, America was busy spending trillions of dollars in Afghanistan while steady ignoring Haiti. If this is not racism on steroid, nothing else so qualifies. Even when Haiti pleaded with Washington DC to send some troops to help them secure their country following the assassination of their president, Washington DC refused. But Afghanistan did not even ask for any American help, yet two trillion American dollars were gratuitously wasted there, including over two thousand killed American soldiers and over 20,00 wounded others, all which America has now abandoned and America  beaten a retreat from. 

Query, does Haiti have to first become a terrorist country or a terrorist sponsor or even allow China or Russia to establish a military base in their country before Washington DC will consider them worthy of receiving much needed attention and help from America. Such a treatment does not bode well for good neighborliness nor does it encourage good behavior. Is the country being punished for being good to America and for not allowing their territory to fall into the wrong hands or America's arch enemies as well as to those wishing to do harm to America. 

It is sad and it should sadden everyone with any modicum of conscience, the pictures coming out of Haiti with women and children without food or water or shelter, being beaten by cold rain and shivering under tents being blown apart by gutsy winds. It is a shame of America and all American media as well as those in leadership position in Washington DC should cover their faces in their shame of hypocrisy. Charity should begin from home, in America's own area of influence, and not in far away desolate Afghanistan which does not even want Americans on their soil nor appreciative of the great sacrifices, both in blood and treasure, made for them by America. 

It is time for a new American foreign policy initiative to emerge that will be Western hemisphere centric; as opposed to the pretentious savior of the entire world projection of power globally. It is disheartening watching the videos out of Haiti and it is only a ruthlessly, heartless vermin that would not be touched by the conditions which those Haitians have been plunged into, especially for a people who did not have much to begin with. ICHEOKU says Joe Biden and Kamala Harris must do something about Haiti in order to encourage those Caribbean nations to continue to remain good neighbors of America and not tempt them into getting ideas that will be inimical to the interest of the West. They deserve better and they sure could use a sort of Marshal Plan to build back better their country and help them have a better life. 

Even some countries including Israel and Mexico that usually rush in to help earthquake victims and victims of other disasters have for the most part remained aloof and disinterested in going to help Haiti. Where is American Navy hospital ships Mercy and  Comfort or are 12000 injured Haitians, whose country's hospitals were damaged and not even functioning properly before the earthquake, not sufficient enough to elicit steaming those hospital ships to the shores of Port-au-Prince? Are there no American Naval assets in Florida or in the Caribbean with helicopters to help evacuate the wounded to hospitals in Florida to help them at this time of great need in their country. As for those "gangs" blocking off access, they cannot be worse than the Taliban or ISIS or even Al-Qaeda and should be summarily exterminated. 

To American media, it is double shame on them as they barely mention Haiti acute suffering and for the fleeting seconds they do, merely superficially, without their journalists on the ground to really bring home the level of disaster for the world, particularly American people, to see and appreciate. Some foreign media are even doing a better coverage of the Haiti tragic conditions more than their American counterparts. It is such a dearth of coverage that no America media was present to cover the press conference of Haitian Prime Minister about the Haitian disaster; but any of them have many journalists in Kabul competing on top of their lungs to bring to world's attention how horrible the Taliban is. It is inexplicably very sad. It is a shame. #HelpHaiti.

Friday, August 20, 2021

TRUMP IS WRONG: ASKING BIDEN TO RESIGN IS A CHEAP POLITICAL SHOT.

ICHEOKU says it is the politicians who do not want the current Afghanistan crisis to go to waste that are ratcheting up the temperature and blaming Joe Biden for the minor hiccups in Afghanistan. He is doing what other American presidents should have done since this past twenty years. They all dreamt about doing it but failed, as they succumbed to the pressure of the military industrial complex who would rather the Afghanistan engagement continued indefinitely. It was their golden egg layer and they salivated for it to last in perpetuity. Joe Biden understands fully the game which they play and was resolute in calling off their bluff and he did so. He has demonstrated a steely backbone and every well meaning American is grateful that he finally cut the losses and got America out of that boondoggle. 

No matter the withdrawal date, the outcome would have most likely still been the same, there will always be the usually associated hitches and glitches. But this should not defeat the merit in the decision. The 300,000 "well trained" and "well equipped" Afghanistan national army are members of the Taliban and would have still sabotaged the process by refusing to defend their country from their colleagues, the invading Taliban fighters. The Taliban spokesman Zubaiullah Mujahid even acknowledged that much when he said that they took over Kabul without losing a single fighter or firing a direct shot at anybody, including any Afghanistan soldier. So, how else does anyone expect Joe Biden to have avoided the outcome since it was an internal conspiracy and sabotage by the same people trained and equipped to forestal and prevent it such an outcome that facilitated it. 

So, when a president and commander in chief of a country fled and his national army and other security outfits disappeared, how else would there not be a breakdown of law and order in such a situation. The Taliban spokesman also said that they did not plan to enter Kabul until a workable arrangement was reached on a smooth transfer of power; but were forced to rush in to secure Kabul when they learnt that the moribund government of President Ashraf Ghani was  instigating disorderly activities and planned to blame it on the Taliban. According to him, their preemptive entering into Kabul prevented looting, rioting, burning and other disorderly behaviors and manners of criminalities which are usually associated with such sudden toppling of a government in power. 

So, why would anybody blame Joe Biden under the circumstances except they want to hurt him politically by portraying him as very weak and feeble. Had President Donald John Trump still been in the White House and the same circumstances presented themselves during his planned and supervised May 1st 2021 earlier withdrawal date, it would have been the same outcome.  Nothing would have stopped the Taliban from doing then, exactly what they did now; a matter made more convincing because they had refused to agree to many of the laid down conditions by the Trump's negotiating team. In fact, they literary dictated the terms of the agreement to a large extent and forced the Trump team to the May 1st withdrawal deadline or they will unleash mayhem in the country. 

Therefore let nobody try to convince anyone that Trump would have been more successful with the withdrawal of forces than Joe Biden because it is not true. Using the madness of the Afghanis to score a political point against Joe Biden by asking him to resign is uncalled for. Now is not the time to make reclamations as many American lives, civilian and military, are still in danger in Afghanistan. Every effort should be concentrated on ensuring their safe evacuation and return back to America and that the Taliban does not take them hostage or use them as a leverage to secure whatever concession they want, including an outright and unconditional recognition by Washington DC. Joe Biden therefore needs all the concentration he can muster right now, instead of worrying about any political fallout flowing from attacks by his political foes.

American political leaders on both sides must be seen to stand together and speak with one voice that no harm must come to American citizens and military being evacuated from Kabul. They should show total support to Joe Biden and stand with him squarely on the decision to end the America's longest running war as it was a decision taken in the interest of America people. It is also imperative that those people who have no wards, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, uncles and aunties and other relatives in active service, who have been going on repeat deployments into Afghanistan and constantly being exposed in harm's way, should be heard less about an over extended American military presence in Afghanistan. 

These people do not wear the shoes and do not particularly know how it hurts to lose a loved one in a senseless battle or for them to come home with their life completely destroyed. These people can pontificate all they want about the needs of the Afghanistan people, but in matters affecting lives, limbs and mental equilibrium of our fighting men and women, who have been stretched beyond tolerable safe limits in Afghanistan, they should maintain their silence and not be heard. President Donald John Trump never served in the military, neither did his parents, brothers and sisters, children and in-laws and should therefore be the last person to condemn Joe Biden's effort to save more American soldier from dying in the sands of Afghanistan. 

President Donald JohnTrump should rather be grateful that Joe Biden is standing "squarely" in seeing through the agreement which Trump himself entered with the Taliban. At least, it will be the only legacy of his which Joe Biden adopted and did not cancel; and therefore find a way to claim a joint credit for finally bringing the over extended Afghanistan engagement to an end. But actually, Joe Biden owns it all because it was under his watch that the Afghanistan war finally ended, regardless of the current snafus. ICHEOKU is a bona fide MAGAnite and a strong supporter of President Donald John Trump, so making this criticism did not come easily; but it is the right thing to do because Joe Biden got his decision "squarely" right on this matter. 

It is pointless helping a people who do not want to be helped or even help themselves. They refused to fight in defense of their country. Their president fled. Their military displayed such cowardice in the field of battle that they easily melted away. Who did Afghanis expect to continue to fight and die to defend their country when they would not. Their actions showed that Afghanistan is not worth dying for and following their example is the best thing to do. As they lead, so will the rest of the world now follow, including America. Joe Biden did not send the troops into Afghanistan. Joe Biden did not enter an agreement with the Taliban. Joe Biden is merely following through with an ongoing withdrawal process of American troops from Afghanistan which majority of American people supports and "squarely" stand with him. 

ICHEOKU appreciates Joe Biden for having such a testicular fortitude to see the withdrawal  through despite the opposition. It is the real test of a man and he has shown that he is made of a sterner stuff. So, thank you Joe Biden for finally ending the Afghanistan debacle. ICHEOKU commends and stands with Joe Biden squarely as he supervises the final vestiges of American troops engagement in Afghanistan. It is the right thing to do and doing right always comes with detractors derisiveness. History will credit him handsomely for standing squarely with the correct decision and American people are grateful. #StandWithBiden. 

Thursday, August 19, 2021

 #StandWithJoeBiden.

ISLAMIC EMIRATE OF AFGHANISTAN: THE UNNECESSARY TALIBAN BAD HYSTERIA.

ICHEOKU says the Western world is needlessly hyperventilating over the return to power in Afghanistan of the Taliban and thus creating an otherwise avoidable panic and tension in the country and among other concerned peoples of the world. It is just a change of power and the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not be any different to other Islamic enclaves which Western nations deal with and maintain cordial relationships with. 

The Chicken Little's "sky is falling" hysteria being generated just because another Islamic Emirate has emerged under the Taliban in Afghanistan is therefore a needless stir of emotions. It should stop and stop immediately in order to avoid creating more problems in that part of the world and by extension, for the entire world which is still reeling under the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, particularly version delta; and an economy largely in many places still comatose. 

Creating another refugee problem in Afghanistan when there are so many IDP camps in various parts of the world is not a smart move. Rohingya Muslims are largely still displaced in hundreds of thousands, so those countries seeking to now take in Afghanistan refugees should pay attention to the already existing refugees and not create more by their sponsored anti Taliban media blitz. 

The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) should therefore be given a chance to bloom; and their new Taliban leadership given the benefit of the doubt to first prove themselves before any further condemnation. They have made promises and given assurances; and it is now imperative that they live up to their promised deliverables. Governance can never be a one cap fits all maximum decree because the Greeks who bequeathed the world democracy never intended it to be that way. 

This is the reason United Kingdom operates a pseudo monarchical parliamentary government and the United States have a republican system of government, and some other countries such as Nigeria have a direct democracy. Afghanistan should therefore be allowed to chose whatever form of governance that suits them and the rest of the world must butt out of their internal affairs domestic matter and let them paddle their canoe as they best see fit. 

If Western nations are looking for places to "nation-build", there are a lot of such places within their hemisphere needing urgent attention. For America, such a place as Haiti could use all the "nation-building" help they can get. For colonial Europe and Britain, there are so many of their colonized African countries which can use a lot of help in having their nations built back better. But a now failed mission to westernize Afghanistan under the color of "nation building" should not create such a hoopla as the world is now witnessing. They did not want it and have rejected it, so the matter should be left alone. 

But how exactly is Afghanistan any different from Saudi Arabia when compared with the rights which Taliban is accused of violating in the past and being terrorists and sponsoring terrorism. Recall that 19 of the 20 terrorists who hijacked planes and flew them into World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville Pennsylvania were all Saudi nationals. None of them was an Afghanistan national, admitted the then ruling Taliban in Afghanistan gave Osama bin Laden shelter and we were also told that the planning of 9/11 attack took place in Afghanistan. 

ICHEOKU is not holding brief for the Taliban but maintains that Western nations will be better served if they accept the reality that is Afghanistan now under the Taliban; and respect the wishes of majority of Afghanis who prefer Taliban to the corrupt and inept government of President Ashraf Ghani. We may not like what happened or the apparent humiliation of Western powers by the rag tag Taliban fighters, but it is their country and they reserve the right to do with it as they please. 

We went there to preach the gospel of democracy and help build back better their country, but they have overwhelmingly rejected the gifts. It does not matter that a few of them embrace it, but majority still rules. Joe Biden is in the White House today not because every American voted for him; so, it will be naive to expect every Afghani to be in support of the Taliban before we accept them as legitimate government in Kabul. 

Even the various mujahideen who were attacking and killing American soldiers did not stand up to the Taliban because they too are Taliban. Then add the 300,000 "well trained" and "well equipped" military who did not confront the Taliban and as Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed at his press conference, Taliban entered Kabul and took the presidential palace without suffering a single casualty. 

Throughout their incursion, Taliban did not meet any serious challenge or confrontation and it took them only 7 days to capture the entire Afghanistan, including the presidential palace. Which other army in the world has ever achieved such an incredible military feat at such a lightening speed, except that the Taliban were not challenged nor confronted because the so called national army of Afghanistan were all members of Taliban. They aided and abetted the outcome as it was a willful surrender of power by the President Ashraf Ghani led government. 

So, any one expecting something different than the outcome is naive, to say the least. Taliban rule is what Afghanistan people want because the 20 years of democracy experiment brought so much corruption, ineptitude and decay in the land and they craved the old ways. Taliban spokesman even made allusion to the homelessness which has become the new order in Kabul as Afghanis openly used drugs on the streets of Kabul. It is their country and they should be allowed to drive it in whichever direction they see fit. 

The fact that Afghanis did not want to fight the Taliban and indeed refused to fight them shows that they are all incohoot in the outcome; and therefore they should be left alone to their Taliban devices. The good news is that the Taliban have indicated interest to be an improved version of the old Taliban which the world used to know and we should be hopeful. The press conference is helpful and their effort to woo the world should be applauded, received with open hands and in turn, reciprocated. The world should accommodate them and gradually nudge them towards moderation like Turkey or Dubai styled Islamic enclave; but they must not be pushed away through retaliatory sanctions and diplomatic isolation. 

They have indicated their interest to play and the world must indulge them. They want to be on the dinner table, the world should put them on the invite list and then educate them on the etiquette of the dinner table, that instead of shovel and rake, spoon and fork are the ideal cutleries. Yes, they can come to dinner but must drop their rakes and shovels and come with spoon and fork. It is called meeting them half way and that way, they will gradually be tamed and brought to the mainstream.  

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave assurances that Taliban 2.0 will be different from the acute Taliban 1.0 of the 90s, which memory of repression still haunts the world till this day. The spokesman said they are an improved Taliban and the world must now allow them necessary accommodation to show their cards. Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone, both the West and the Afghanis, that the created hysteria ends immediately so that Afghanis can continue to build back better their society. But causing severe brain drain in Afghanistan, through a needless panic induced evacuation, will only halt whatever progress that have been made this past twenty years and will eventually torpedo Afghanistan and drive it back into the once failed state which it was back in the 90s. 

The evacuation of Afghanistan citizens should be halted immediately and in its place exact pressure on Taliban to respect the rights of their citizens. It is their country and they owe it as a duty to help save it from total ruination. Instead of draining their much needed brain power and general manpower, the West should plug into its contacts in the Arab and Islamic world to help put a leech on the Taliban and encourage, supervise and stir them towards moderation. They are likely to become better over time with necessary prodding, understanding them and showing them a respectful behavior. 

Life is dynamic and the Taliban cannot survive, remaining adamant and impervious to world expectations. Nobody knew that Israel will ever mend fences with the Arab/Muslim world, so there is a possibility that the Taliban will eventually turn the corner and reform their ways in order to fit into a new world order. They have already given their word to respect the rights of women to work, media to freely operate, security and safety guarantee for everyone in Afghanistan, general amnesty for all and to ensure that Afghanistan is a terrorism and narcotics free country, among other things. 

These are sufficient assurances to earn them the benefit of the doubt; and like President Ronald Reagan once said to trust but first verify, the world must now step aside and wait for the Taliban to put their money where their mouth is. It is only if they fail to live up to their promised expectations that any condemnation or gang up against them will be justified. Afghanistan reserved the right to choose the type of government they want just like other countries of the world, the world must now respect the choice which they made. 

A new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not be any worse than all the other Islamic enclaves of the world which the Western world deals with. The most important thing is their expressed intention to do better and the West should explore ways of encouraging them fulfill this pledge. The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which the West deals with does not accord women rights including something as basic as the right to drive a car. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman even butchered a Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi yet the West looked the other way. 

So, why all the "pants on fire" outcry about Taliban's suppression of women's rights and freedom of the media in Afghanistan, when such freedoms does not exist in Saudi Arabia. If the West is trying to genie up hysteria to distract and refocus attention away from the humiliation of 20 years wasted effort, it is regrettable because Taliban has not done anything worst than Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Brunei, Libya and so many other Islamic enclaves whose "cultures" and "traditions" the West respects are not any different either; so why the effort to isolate Afghanistan? 

A "wait and see" approach on how Taliban proceeds in their second coming is the best way going forward. A more rational world should own up that the 20 years experiment on westernizing Afghanistan has failed and that Taliban is now the true legitimate government in Kabul. So, instead of the current trashing around in great trepidation that Taliban has taken over power in Afghanistan, they should focus their attention on how to manage the new situation and how to co-exist with the Taliban. 

Twenty years is a long time and a lot of changes have taken place including among the Taliban. The Taliban of today cannot be the same Taliban of of the 90s under the one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar. It is unlikely they will be as ruthless as they were before as present Afghanistan society might not tolerate such stringent Islamic condition without some form of resistance. 

The Taliban will not have an option but to accommodate some changes commensurate to a society that has been under "democracy" for the past twenty years, no matter how little. The West should use such opening to build more influence and use it as a leverage over the Taliban. Maintaining diplomatic and economic relations with the Taliban will be a better approach as it will help in drawing them closer and then the opportunity to cajole them to do more. 

But if they are isolated and excommunicated or pushed away by economic strangulation and/or diplomatic icing, it will infuriate them and possibly force them back into their old ways, aware that America have lost the appetite to continue the fight. The Taliban have also been traveling around the world through Qatar and other Islamic States friends of theirs, and have seen that modernity can co-exist with Islam and they will want the same for their Afghanistan as well. 

At worst, the West should treat them as a situation of keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer; but whatever happens, the hysteria should be allowed to die down. It must stop and the massive evacuation of Afghanis must also be put on hold as it is doing more harm to Afghanistan than it is helping. Those brain powers and manpower are needed for Afghanistan to help it continue to build back better. #EndThePanic.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

TALIBAN: THE FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE.

We have expelled the foreigners and I would like to congratulate the whole nation on this. This is pride, not only for a limited number of people. This is a proud moment for the whole nation. This kind of pride is rare when it can be achieved. The whole nation, after the whole history of the nation and therefore, on the base of this I would like to congratulate the whole nation and I would like to welcome you.

Freedom and independence seeking is a legitimate right of every nation. The Afghans also use their legitimate right after 20 years of struggle for freedom and for emancipating the country from occupation, this was our right and we achieved this right. And we would like to express our gratitude to almighty God for having brought us to this stage. I would like to thank God for giving freedom to this nation. The Islamic Emirate, after freedom of this nation is not going to seek revenge on anybody, we don’t have any grudges against anybody.

We know that we have been undergoing really challenging periods and crises, a lot of mistakes that were made that were an advantage to the occupiers. We want to make sure that Afghanistan is not the field of conflict, a battlefield of conflict anymore. We have pardoned anyone, all those who had fought against us. We don’t want to repeat any conflict anymore again. We want to do away with the factors for conflict. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any kind of hostility or animosity with anybody; animosities have come to an end and we would like to live peacefully. We don’t want any internal enemies and any external enemies. 

Undoubtedly, we are at a very historical stage. Our countrymen and women who have been waiting, I would like to assure that after consultations that are going to be completed very soon, we will be witnessing the formation of a strong Islamic and inclusive government, Inshallah, God willing. As the forces of the Islamic Emirate enter Kabul now this great development that has unfolded, we have not had any casualties. There have been some rioters who wanted to take advantage, wanted to abuse the situation, this was brought to our attention. We realized that that’s what was going on, but we want to assure the residents of Kabul for full security, for protection of their dignity and security and safety.

Security has been assured. God willing, day by day there will be more security. After ensuring the security, Afghanistan, especially in Kabul, there are embassies. The security of the embassies is very crucial, of crucial importance for us.

First, we would like to assure that the areas where there are embassies, there will be complete security. Therefore all foreign countries and your representatives, your embassies, your missions, international organizations, aid agencies, I would like to assure you that we will not allow anybody to do anything against you. Your security is assured. Our forces are there 24 hours around the clock to ensure your security, undoubtedly. We don’t want to see any kind of chaos, inconvenience in Kabul. 

Our plan was to stop at the gates of Kabul after capturing all other provinces, so that the transition process is completed smoothly without us entering Kabul, so that we stopped troubles and harms and damages. But unfortunately, the previous government was so incompetent. As a result of their actions. Their security forces could not do anything to ensure security and we have to do something, we have to take responsibility. So that was the reason: the abusers and the rioters. They wanted to abuse the name of the Islamic Emirate, to enter houses, or to harass the people or to steal. 

So we, therefore, instructed our forces to enter Kabul to ensure, to stop all this and to ensure security. So we had to do this to enter Kabul to stop those criminals and abusers, so that we ensure the safety and security of the people and the residents of Kabul. Therefore, the residents should be assured that your security is guaranteed.

In the same way, when it comes to the kind of circumstances I would like to ensure, I would like to assure the international community, including the United States that nobody will be a harmed in Afghanistan. I would like to assure our neighbors, regional countries, we are not going to allow our territory to be used against anybody, any country in the world. So the whole global community should be assured that we are committed to these pledges that you will not be harmed in any way from our soil.
 
We would also like to request the international community that we then recognise international boundaries and interactions. We should be treated accordingly. According to this framework, we do not want to have any problem with the international community, we’d like to act on the basis of our principles of our religion, of our culture, and we have given a lot of sacrifices. We have the right to act on the basis of our religious principles and rules and regulations, it’s of the right of Afghans.

Other countries also have different rules, different policies, different viewpoints, different approaches and policies they use and different rules and regulations. In the same way, Afghans also have the right to have their own rules and regulations and policies so that their advantage from the profit of the nation of the people, so that they’re in accordance with our values, so nobody should be worried about our norms and principles.

The issue of women is very important. The Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of women within the framework of Sharia. Our sisters, our men have the same rights; they will be able to benefit from their rights. They can have activities in different sectors and different areas on the basis of our rules and regulations: educational, health and other areas. They are going to be working with us, shoulder to shoulder with us. The international community, if they have concerns, we would like to assure them that there’s not going to be any discrimination against women, but of course within the frameworks that we have. Our women are Muslim. They will also be happy to be living within our frameworks of Sharia.

We hope that as soon as conflict has done away with Afghanistan, we are going to build infrastructures of the economy. For this we are going to take actions for economic activities. The interactions with the international community, with other countries are going to continue. We are going to be working on our natural resources and our resources in order to revitalize our economy, for our reconstruction, for our prosperity. Therefore the Islamic Emirate is requesting the whole international community that God willing, we can very soon, actually very quickly can change the situation, the country economically.

Every Afghan wants to improve his or her life. So, the whole community, the whole society will be active in trade, in economics, and we are committed to ensure security and after that to build our society, to serve our nation. We are the servants of the nation. Before that, the benefit of the nation, both in this world and for the next world.

Once again I would like to assure the media, we are committed to media within our cultural frameworks. Private media can continue to be free and independent, they can continue their activities – with some requests for the media.
One, is that Islam is a very important value in our country and nothing should be against Islamic values. When it comes to the activities of the media therefore, Islamic values should be taken into account when it comes to the activities of the media, when it comes to developing your programmes. Therefore, the media should be impartial. Impartiality of the media is very important. They can critique our work, so that we can improve.

So you, young in the media should also pay attention to the [inaudible] so that we can serve the nation in a better way. And you should also want to work accordingly, the same way. It’s very important that the Afghans are giving a lot of importance to their national values, national unity, national consensus. The media should not work against this national values, against national unity. When it comes to ethnic differences, religious differences and hostilities, they should not be actually promoted by the media, they should work on the country for the unity of the nation to have peaceful brotherly living together.

Once again I express my gratitude to all of you for participating in our press conference. So the names are going to be read out. I’m here to serve you. We’re going to have more press conferences. So today we have maybe less time than in the future. I just came from a trip. I just want to make sure you’re not going to wait for me. So we’ll have a lot of time to discuss in the future. The questions are going to be asked now. I’m going to answer all of the questions.

XXX

The first question is from Al Jazeera. Everybody will have a chance to ask questions. Charlotte Bellis from Al Jazeera. The question was about women’s rights. The question is, what kind of guarantee is going to be provided for ensuring women’s rights.

As I mentioned earlier, we are going to allow women to work and study within certain frameworks. Women are going to be very active in the society, but within the frameworks of Islam. Women are a key part of society and we are guaranteeing all their rights within the limits of Islam.

I would like to assure all the compatriots, whether they were translators, whether they were with military activities or whether they were civilians, all of them have been important. Nobody is going to be treated with revenge. Both youth who have talents, who have grown up here, who are from this country, we don’t want them to leave. These are our assets, we would like them to stay here, to serve.

We would like to assure you that nobody is going to knock on their door to inspect them, to ask them or to interrogate them as to who they have been working for or interpreting for. So I would like to assure you that no harm is going to be [done]. They’re going to be safe. As for the contractor that was, perhaps gone missing as reported by the media, we do not have any information about him at the moment.

I would like to assure you that in your homes nobody is going to harm you, no one is going to knock on your door, no one is going to be interrogated or chased. Those who have knocked on people’s doors to inspect their houses, this are abusers and they will be chased and investigated.

Thousands of soldiers who have fought us for 20 years, after the occupation, all of them have been pardoned. Those with families at the airport waiting, if they come back to their homes, no one is going to do anything to them; they will be safe. No one is going to inspect them there, we give them confidence.

We have fought for everybody and this is for the benefit of stability and peace in Afghanistan. All factions are fathers from A to Z. God forbid, we haven’t done anything intentional against anybody. If during the war and conflict somebody has been harmed unintentionally then, this is one of the side effects of conflict for 20 years. A huge occupying force was defeated. This way it was impossible for us to free the country, and demand the country without injuries, without injuries, without harms, without being hurt. You know that some people have even committed suicide. Unwittingly, somebody does something like that. If somebody has been harmed as a result of these activities, these are, of course, understandable. They are side effects of war. But I would like to assure you, I’d like to guarantee that no harm inflicted on the nation has been intentional – they have been the side effects of war that have been technical problems, and other unfortunate side effects and incidents.

You know that the political situation changed in the city: robberies, and crimes started to emerge but we have to take actions to stop them. Within a short period of  time we managed to do so; we wanted to; we had to stop the instability. So, they have to be controlled. So, we have to come up with a set of actions with the different regions of the city. We will bring back complete normalcy and stability … for Afghanistan, we’ll never abuse any assets. Those for example, that are armed, they have to be disarmed.

I should be reminded that emancipating the country was a great, noble cause, to get rid of the occupiers, without which we could not form our government. So negotiations were taking place for 18 months, we had a strong team in Qatar. But then it was sabotaged. Some warmongers sabotaged it. This previous government actually announced a six-month plan for war against us, so for another six months, we were going to witness killings of our children, of our compatriots.

Our struggle was to form the Islamic government. Anyway, our fighters, our people who were involved in this struggle, we are all going to make sure that we can include all other sides and factions from all segments of the society. That’s been a struggle for those whose lives have been lost as a result of fighting for the enemy. This was their own fault. You could see that we managed to control the whole country in a matter of days, but we’re not arrogant for this.

We have instructed everyone not to enter anybody’s house, whether they’re civilians or military. There’s a huge difference between us and the previous government. When we form the government, when everybody sees their position, their place, then you will see. The kind of situations … is a kind of military situation. After formation of the government, everything will be more clear.

This question is based on ideology and value systems. Our nation is a Muslim nation, whether it was 20 years ago, or whether it was now. But when it comes to experience and maturity and vision, of course, there’s a huge difference between us, in comparison to 20 years ago. There will be a difference when it comes to the actions we’re going to take, this has been like an evolutionary complimentary sort of process.

Let’s talk about the law after the government is formed. They’re going to decide what kind of laws are going to be presented to the nation. This will be the due responsibility of the future governments, with the participation of all people. One thing to say – we are seriously now working on forming the government. I would like to assure you, it will be announced.

We have all the borders under our control. There is not going to be any case of smuggling of weapons. All the weapons that are being used in fighting are going to be collected and compiled and registered. Contact consultations are being carried out soon, you will be aware of it soon.

This question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech. Do not allow publication of all information, news, I can ask Facebook company. This question should be asked to them.

Let’s give some more time to the international media. When it comes to your first question, we have captured for the last three days in any province, there hasn’t been any case of murder, there is full security across the country. Our poet has been kidnapped – we are going to follow up with this – our poets, our talented people should not be harmed, this should be stopped. The current situation is like, resembles a martial law kind of situation. It will soon come back to normal. No one will be able to kidnap anyone.

Compare now to last week, for example; there’s a huge difference. Nobody’s losing their life anymore. We are going to have more and more security, day by day. Those who have left the country – we don’t want anybody to be out of the country. This is the country, this is our common homeland, we have common values, common religion and common nation. We would like to come under the umbrella of these commonalities. We have undergone these problems and difficulties within this public amnesty, general amnesty, so no animosity is going to be followed up.

We are assuring our countrymen and women and the international community, we will not produce any narcotics. In 2001, if you remember, we had brought narcotics content production to zero in 2001, but our country was unfortunately occupied by then and the way was paved for reproduction of narcotics even at the level of the government – everybody was involved.

But from now on, nobody’s going to get involved, nobody can be involved in drug smuggling. Today, when we entered Kabul, we saw a large number of our youth who were sitting under the bridges or next to the walls and they were using narcotics. This was so unfortunate. I got saddened to see these young people without any faith in the future. From now on, Afghanistan will be a narcotics-free country but it needs international assistance. The international community should help us so that we can have alternative crops. We can provide alternative crops. Then, of course, very soon, we can bring it to an end.

I should mention that Afghanistan will have a strong Islamic government. What the name is going to be, what the specifications are going to be, let’s leave it to the political leaders. They are now conducting serious consultations in this regard, but we can assure you that it will be an Islamic and a strong government on the basis of our values and will not be against the values and benefits of our people.

We will do our most to make sure that everybody is included in the country, even those people against us in the past, so we are going to wait until those announcements are made. Government agencies will be able to start working again very soon. When it comes to women, of course, they will be able to work within the frameworks of our Islamic laws for example in education, in health, in prosecution. Of course, women are needed, they are going to be able be working.

Foreign fighters, one point that Afghanistan soil is not meant to be used against anybody. I should assure the international community, anyone who means to use our land against other countries, we are not going to allow them at all. The government is being formed. The problems are being resolved, our leaders are involved. We are going to announce everything in the next few days, such as that the situation is under control now for a better government. 

The first question about foreign fighters, is that we will not allow any foreigners who wish to harm or threaten the security of the country’s space in Afghanistan. And we have assured this. As for your second question, as for the government setup, we are still working on it. It will be in stages.
Can women continue to work for the media in the same way as in the past?

Just wait and see what the future government is going to say. Our laws, when it comes to media and other essentials are going to be such that everybody should be able to work but within the framework of the Islamic Sharia laws, because currently we can’t actually present you with everything clearly. Just wait for the government, for the laws to be promulgated, and then we will of course be able to observe those laws and regulations.

The question is whether you’re in touch with Dr Abdullah, Hekmatyar and Hamid Karzai. Let’s just say, that very soon we will be witnessing the formation of the government, announcing the government. We will do our most to make sure that we are in touch with all sides, with Dr Abdullah, with others, we have been communicating with them. We’re continuing our communication with them we will do our most to make sure that all Afghans are included. Nobody should be left out, or anybody with interests to serve the nation, they’re not going to be ignored. So the future government will be inclusive. As to when our leader is going to enter the country, enter Kabul, I should mention that very soon. The decision will be made. The government will be announced and all problems will be solved.

We should wait a little bit more, because it’s like an emergency at the moment, we will make sure that everybody’s included, and we’ll have a proper and healthy government.

The question is about the relations with the rest of the world, because as I mentioned before, Afghanistan wants to have very good relations with everybody. In order to revive our economy, in order to ensure prosperity, in order to come out of this current crisis that calls for having really good relations with neighboring countries, with other countries, we are doing our best to make sure that we are communicating with neighboring countries within the framework of international diplomatic frameworks and on the basis of good neighborly agreements and mutual respect.

Thank you so much for coming here. We don’t have enough time, unfortunately, thank you so much for coming. Have a good day.”