A moment of remembrance

Today the sad news was released that a British Aid Worker, by the name of Linda Norgrove, was killed by her Afghan captors during the attempt to rescue her. Condolences and tributes to her were offered by the Foreign secretary, General David Petraeus and the aid company she worked for but all these seem so hollow in the face of her dedication and sacrifice. For greater detail on this: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-09/kidnapped-british-aid-worker-killed-by-afghan-captors-during-rescue-effort.html

Regardless of what you think of the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, it is impossible to have anything but admiration for Linda Norgrove and those like her. They work tirelessly with little or no reward beyond the simple thanks of those they aid. While at the same time they risk torture and death at the hands of common criminals or the mindless fanatics that are the Taliban. Such bravery and dedication is a remarkable thing.

Sadly there has been a large increase in the deaths of humanitarian workers during the 2000's because despite a decrease in wars between states the internal and civil conflicts that have become so common create the kind of senseless chaos that leads to the deaths of people with the best of intentions.

It would be so simple to forget Linda Norgrove and those like her entirely. But today I ask you to give a moment of remembrance for Linda and all her work in aiding a country and a people to rebuild.

The beginning of the end

It's a shame I didn't start this blog earlier because if i had my prediction that we would leave Afghanistan before the end of 2010 would have been documented. In echoes of Churchill's "beginning of the end", the conference on Afghanistan in London heard repeatedly about the beginning of a "transition" to Afghan control.

It's become or rather has been for a while one big mess. In reality it should be years before we start leaving or reducing troop numbers but Afghanistan is a political embarrassment for Brown and Obama. It's an unpleasant left over from the previous administrations of Blair and Bush. The current leaders of the free world cannot wait to leave. They use the word transition to start shifting all responsibility for both good and bad to the Afghans.

While this may seem cold and underhanded in reality its not a completely bad thing. Afghanistan is the Afghans problem when its all boiled down. Doubtless they will face many years of fighting the Taliban but they will not be alone, they will receive continued funding from the US and Allied troops are not just going to disappear. However the body count will now fall almost exclusively on the shoulders of the Afghan people.

In the end no one in the West wants war. The terrorist threat for the most part seems to have subsided, the hysteria of the past few years has grown weaker and now more pressing matters like the recession have taken hold.

If Afghanistan wants to democracy and a functioning society its going to have to prove it. Its going to have shed more blood. Endure more years of hardship. And be prepared to really mean it.

The Current Situation

With a now irrelevant exam out of the way Politics looms again to the forefront of my mind. Thus I have decided to look at the top stories of the moment and so I went to my trusty friend google news and found these headlines:

France and America bicker as Haiti aid fails to reach city

No Bush-Blair deal signed in blood at Crawford, says Jonathan Powell

Taliban militants open fire in Kabul

I would like to quickly look at all 3 of these stories.

The Bush-Blair story while an embaressing and regrettable part of history is not one to be dwelt on; Bush will be remembered as brutal but heroic and Blair as a liar and a scumbag, such is the fates of our leaders.

Taliban militants will for some time continue open fire on people who don't deserve it, they are freedom fighters in their own minds after all. I will look at Afghanistan another time.

Haiti is the subject of the moment. Through the fault of no one the small overcrowded island nation has been ravaged by an earthquake it was unavoidable in the short term. Haiti is an artificial nation a result of French colonisation and Frances later abandonment of the colony. Filled with the descendants of slaves it was never designed for a population of this size and therefore has never evolved beyond an agricultural based society. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and it shows. Now with everyone tightening their purse strings in light of the recession, little aid is on its way and so thousands remain trapped beneath the rubble and tens of thousands more live in abject poverty. Never forget Haiti for while it is tragic in the short term it is also symbolic of the wider problem of poverty and the devastation it causes when disaster strikes.