| The US helped topple the Taleban
from power in Afghanistan, in 2001, after the
9/11 attacks.
Yet six years on, 30,000+ soldiers of the International
Security Assistance Force are still fighting fierce
battles in the country. It seems that the war
in Afghanistan is absorbing ever more resources
and lives.
In a BBC Newsnight interview on 6 September 2007
General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the British
army 2003-6, said that he believed the war in
Afghanistan was winnable. He also agreed that
British troops could be in Afghanistan for another
25 years.
Soldiers
are saying it's the most intense combat since
Korea, and like Korea, there are claims that it's
a forgotten war.
Corporal Andrew Bright - known as Stretch - of
2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland the Royal
Highland Fusiliers, told Sky News (published Saturday
September 08, 2007):
"I don't think people really know what we
are doing here,"
"Iraq has taken front stage politically
and here we are doing our jobs at the dirty end
of it."
 |
 Pic
by Vaughan Smith |
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It
can be argued that Afghanistan is not part of
the instant news global village. Or as Afghan
Lord, one of the only Afghanis blogging in English,
has written:
"Unfortunately from Afghanistan I have not
much reader because there is no Internet. First
we do not have power, if we have that is only
for a specific part of Kabul not for all. Second
people don’t know much computer to use Internet.
A few Internet cafés are running in different
part of the city I am sure they do not have enough
customers."
News sources
The English language news is largely managed
by the military. There may be life beyond war
in Afghanistan, but there's little evidence of
that on the web.
Afghan blogs
Sanjar
from Kabul
www.afghanlord.org
afghanwarrior.blogspot.com
afghanpenlog-en.blogspot.com
Vaughan
Smith's embedded blog
Independent
video journalist Vaughan Smith kept a compelling
video blog for www.fromthefrontline.co.uk. From
late August - 12th September 2007 he was embedded
with the Grenadier Guards in Helmand, Afghanistan.
He used to be a Captain in the Grenadier Guards
20 years ago - and the soldiers appear to trust
him.
He
wrote in his blog:
"There have been reports in the British
press about the intensity of the fighting in southern
Afghanistan, casualty rates have even been compared
to the levels seen in frontline troops in the
Second World War. Yet the British public seem
ambivalent. If the fighting in Afghanistan is
important then they shouldn’t be. I want
to know how the soldiers feel about this disinterest."
His videos were uploaded onto YouTube and they
give a real insight into what it's like being
a soldier on the ground. He has not touched on
the bigger political picture, but has interviewed
another cameraman friend of his who is living
in Afghanistan:
"Peter [Jouvenal], an ex-British soldier
himself, reminded me of a saying that the Afghans
have about war with their enemies. That “they
have the watch, but we have the time".
"Peter is convinced that there will have
to be a political resolution that will see the
Taliban back in Kabul. The question he thought
was to what extent NATO’s military efforts
would allow a negotiating position that enabled
a sort of “Taliban-lite"."
Vaughan's videos have been watched by very few
people (his dramatic clip about the Sangin Operations
has received only 1,217 views at time of writing).
Vaughan's blog:
www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/
Frontline
on YouTube
More
Afghanistan links
Updated
often:
Afghan
news network
The
BBC website usually has a four day gap between
event and report - but the quality of the journalism
seems high.
BBC
on Afghanistan
Video
reports, Arthur Kent in Afghanistan:
skyreporter.com
More
analysis from afar
Lots
of great links:
afghanistanica.com
afghanistan-analyst.org
Military matters
Huge
Afghanistan thread on the Army Rumour Service
- features the written reports from most UK newspapers
www.defenceoftherealm.com
www.milblogging.com/afghanistan.frontlines.php
Scott
Kesterton was embedded with Canadian troops in
2006. Watch his videos here.
Also
www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/central-asia-caucasus/afghanistan/
The
Afghan President
Photo credit: Photos on this page from
videos by Vaughn Smith in Afghanistan. See his
blog:
www.fromthefrontline.co.uk
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