Archives: 2007 June

The story of the United States involvement in Afghanistan is an almost unbelievable one.

If it weren’t so tragic for the long suffering people of Afghanistan and US citizens, especially the US military, it would be almost funny in it’s circular what goes around comes around implications.

In 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Since the cold war between the Soviet Union and the US was still very much underway naturally the US opposed the Soviet’s efforts to control the country.

The US backed Islamic fighters were known as mujaheddin, including an Islamic leader from Saudi Arabia known as Osama Bin Laden. The US supported mujaheddin, “solders of God”, fought the Soviets and the country became a Cold War proxy battleground.

By 1989 the Soviets had suffered enough in the hostile unforgiving terrain of Afghanistan. They withdrew after transporting more than 15,000 dead Soviet troops back to their homeland in coffins. The Soviets left behind hundreds of thousands of dead Afghans as a testament to the brutally of war.

Now get this.

The Soviets began to take heavy losses only after the US began supplying the mujaheddin with sophisticated weapons, including stinger missiles. The stingers proved to be highly effective in bringing down Soviet fighter jets and attack helicopters. The missiles indeed took the sting out of the Soviet military machine which had relied on air power to kill the mujaheddin.

What goes around comes around. Now the US is confronted with sophisticated weapons, especially IED’s, which are finding their way into Iraq.

After the withdrawal of the Soviet Union forces the US made a huge mistake. Instead of helping Afghanistan recover from the devastation of war we basically patted ourselves on the back and said “mission accomplished”. The US also withdrew from active involvement in the region.

This left a bitterness in Afghanistan and in Pakistan.  During the war Pakistan had allowed the US to ship arms, men, and supplies to the mujaheddin through their territory.

The mujaheddin were also bitter towards the US as they felt that they were used to fight the Soviets and then once they had prevailed had been cast aside by the United States. One of the bitter mujaheddin leaders was Osama bin Laden.

The withdrawal of the Soviet forces left a power vacuum in Afghanistan that was eventually filled by the Taliban. The Taliban were a creation of the Pakistani madrasas. Pakistan wanted to see some stability in the neighboring country and thought the Taliban were better bets than depending upon the rule of warlords.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan thought that a strict religious Islamic fundamentalist group controlling  Afghanistan would be better for stability than anarchy. Soon Pakistan found that they could not control their religious Taliban friends.

The Taliban considered Osama bin Laden a friend and allowed him to train his Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. After the war against the Soviets ended Osama was embittered by his experience with the Americans. After American troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1991 during the Gulf War Osama pledged to seek his revenge.

I have not been to Austin, Texas in a few years but I still have fond memories of the three busy days and fun filled nights I spent there.

Austin has developed into an American high tech center, a music center, and a thriving college town with the University of Texas, Austin campus in the downtown area. I was there for a computer company marketing presentation and was fortunate to have the company President, who lived in Austin, show me around. My associates and myself had a fantastic time in Austin.

The blend of high tech and laid back Texans along with causally clad fun loving, hard studying and hard playing college students at every turn make Austin unlike any other American city.

If you love live music you want to visit Austin. If you love great food you want to visit Austin. If you like to bar hop while you search for just the right kind of music you won’t want to leave Austin.

If you require a hotel you are in luck. Austin Hotels are well priced. You will find a comfortable room in Austin near super restaurants and fun filled night life action.

The Sidestep Austin Hotels website covers Austin in great detail so it is a fantastic resource to  use in planning your trip.

If you have been thinking of visiting Austin my advice is go. Hey, with great music, great food, interesting bars, friendly people, and reasonable hotel prices you can’t go wrong.

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The US House of Representatives passed a bill by 247-176 to roll back President Bush’s restrictions on federally funded embryonic cell research.

While yet another defeat for President Bush the vote was short of the two thirds majority that it will take to overcome a promised veto by Bush.

Stem cell embryonic research is one of many positions that President Bush seems to be completely out of step on with American voters. Since Bush is a lame duck President and can not stand for reelection he just doesn’t seem to care how unpopular his positions are with voters.

Once out of office George W. Bush will most likely be one of the most hated men by members of his own party to have ever served in the White House. His stick it in the voters eye additude is sure to wreck the Republicans chances in the 2008 election as well as for many years to come.

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