US Drones Terrifying to Afghan Villagers

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Afghan villagers flee their homes, blame US drones

KHALIS FAMILY VILLAGE, Afghanistan (AP) — Barely able to walk even with a cane, Ghulam Rasool says he padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and fled his mountain home in the middle of the night to escape relentless airstrikes from U.S. drones targeting militants in this remote corner of Afghanistan.

Rasool and other Afghan villagers have their own name for Predator drones. They call them benghai, which in the Pashto language means the "buzzing of flies." When they explain the noise, they scrunch their faces and try to make a sound that resembles an army of flies.

"They are evil things that fly so high you don't see them but all the time you hear them," said Rasool, whose body is stooped and shrunken with age and his voice barely louder than a whisper. "Night and day we hear this sound and then the bombardment starts."

The U.S. military is increasingly relying on drone strikes inside Afghanistan, where the number of weapons fired from unmanned aerial aircraft soared from 294 in 2011 to 506 last year. With international combat forces set to withdraw by the end of next year, such attacks are now used more for targeted killings and less for supporting ground troops.

It's unclear whether Predator drone strikes will continue after 2014 in Afghanistan, where the government has complained bitterly about civilian casualties. The strikes sometimes accidentally kill civilians while forcing others to abandon their hometowns in fear, feeding widespread anti-American sentiment.

The Associated Press — in a rare on-the-ground look unaccompanied by military or security — visited two Afghan villages in Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan to talk to residents who reported that they had been affected by drone strikes.

In one village, Afghans disputed NATO's contention that five men killed in a particular drone strike were militants. In the other, a school that was leveled in a nighttime airstrike targeting Taliban fighters hiding inside has yet to be rebuilt.

"These foreigners started the problem," Rasool said of international troops. "They have their own country. They should leave."

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-world/20130328/AS--Afghan-Living.with.Drones/

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

"These foreigners started the problem," Rasool said of international troops. "They have their own country. They should leave."

Word.

[JstaRebel 48]

America's "foreign policy" at work.. Unfortunately..

[Darnell 8,479]

huh? why can't the villagers round up the militants, instead?

That would get the drones out of their neighborhood, you betcha.

[^_^ 5,021]

huh? why can't the villagers round up the militants, instead?

That would get the drones out of their neighborhood, you betcha.

they're terrified of the militants, too.

but the militants don't kill them (unless they have to).

Word.

i am sure you know this, but there are many "foreigners" in the ranks of the militants too.

afghanistan would do well to eject not only all americans and westerners, but also all arabs.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

[quote name=' timestamp='1364488853' post='6090260]

they're terrified of the militants, too.

but the militants don't kill them (unless they have to).

i am sure you know this, but there are many "foreigners" in the ranks of the militants too.

afghanistan would do well to eject not only all americans and westerners, but also all arabs.

It's up to the Afghans.

[^_^ 5,021]

It's up to the Afghans.

Of course

[ready4ONE 5,400]

[quote name=' timestamp='1364488853' post='6090260]

they're terrified of the militants, too.

but the militants don't kill them (unless they have to).[\b]

i am sure you know this, but there are many "foreigners" in the ranks of the militants too.

afghanistan would do well to eject not only all americans and westerners, but also all arabs.

You mean like when the villagers sin against Allah?

[^_^ 5,021]

You mean like when the villagers sin against Allah?

There's that. Or spy for the Americans.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

[quote name=' timestamp='1364564824' post='6094198]

There's that. Or spy for the Americans.

Or choose the wrong day to shop at the local community market and get caught in a suicide bombing. Or send their little girls to school. Or fornicate out of wedlock. Gosh there's so many reasons that the wonderful folks defending Afghanistan from imperialist US aggression have to kill innocent villagers.

Edited March 29, 2013 by ready4ONE

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Or choose the wrong day to shop at the local community market and get caught in a suicide bombing. Or send their little girls to school. Or fornicate out of wedlock. Gosh there's so many reasons that the wonderful folks defending Afghanistan from imperialist US aggression have to kill innocent villagers.

The point you seem to have missed is that it's those very innocent villagers that you purport to be caring about who are the ones calling for the "imperialist US aggression to stop."

Edited March 29, 2013 by wife_of_mahmoud

[ready4ONE 5,400]

The point you seem to have missed is that it's those very innocent villagers that you purport to be caring about who are the ones calling for the "imperialist US aggression to stop."

But no worries about the foreign fighters/terrorists that only kill when '...they have to' needing to go back where they came from?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

But no worries about the foreign fighters/terrorists that only kill when '...they have to' needing to go back where they came from?

I really don't know what you're talking about - are you quoting some conversation with somebody else ?

The point is: the Afghans want the US to remove its soldiers and its drones from Afghan territory and airspace. What part of "Yankee go home" didn't you understand ?

[sandinista! 1,816]

There can be multiple things wrong in the world at any given time. I went to a fundraiser for child abuse prevention the other night- it doesn't mean that I'm totes cool with domestic violence, hate crimes against Sikhs, or violence in Burma against ethnic minorities there, because I spoke out against child abuse by attending and donating to that fundraiser, but failed to bring up Burma there or battered women, or the Sikh temple shooting from a few months back

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I really don't know what you're talking about - are you quoting some conversation with somebody else ?

The point is: the Afghans want the US to remove its soldiers and its drones from Afghan territory and airspace. What part of "Yankee go home" didn't you understand ?

I am teasing you about your insurgents only killing 'when they have to' comment. I am sure that it is not too hard to find Afghans who will say 'Yankee go home' even if it is not in their own best interest. Many are very concerned about what will happen when we do leave and rightly so.