Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Afghanistan. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Afghanistan. Afficher tous les articles

Afghanistani Pashtun, Zalmay Khalilzad, Former UN Ambassador

Nadene Goldfoot                                                
Zalmay "Zal" Khalilzad, age 65
Obtained the highest position any Muslim has held
in the USA government
Khalizad is a former CIA operative, and undersecretary of defense in the George H.W. Bush administration who was a consultant for Unocal during the Clinton administration.

Talk about the American dream!   We've had a foreign born Ambassador go back and be ambassador to his home country, working under several presidents.  
                                                                          
Kabul
Zalmay Khalilzad (b: March 22, 1951)  has been our UN Envoy from the USA.  He's Afghanistan born and has been an American since 2004. "Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is a U.S. counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and president of Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, D.C He was the 26th USA Ambassador to the UN under George Bush from 2007 to 2009.  He's succeeded by Susan Rice.  Khalilzad was born in Mazar-i-Sharif but grew up in KabulAfghanistan, a much larger city.   He first spent time in the United States as a Ceres, California high school exchange student with AFS Intercultural Programs. Later, he attained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.   Khalilzad received his PhD at the University of Chicago in The United States.  He joined the State Department in 1984.  He's been the US Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq.  Khalilzad is a Sunni Muslim and belongs to the Pashtun ethnic group.   He is fluent in English, PashtoDari and  Arabic


What's his voting record in the UN as far as Israel goes?  He was considered pro-Israel in 2007   Jewish groups welcomed his appointment and said they hoped Khalilzad would continue strong US support for Israel in an arena often critical of the Jewish state. The UN is often critical of the Jewish state. Officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said they "look forward to working with him." "Khalilzad is considered to have a positive attitude towards Israel and the US-Israel relationship," said Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. "Based on his past record, we have every reason to anticipate that he will maintain the policies [in place] to date." Hoenlein added that Khalilzad's background could aid the US in the international body."                                                                        
Oldest mosque in Afghanistan is in Kabul

Before He Gained Power, Khalilzad said the  Israel Lobby “Paralyzed” Our Foreign Policy ." Evidently the Jewish groups missed this one in their vetting.                                                    

So wrote Philip Weiss in 2007.  In a 1997 paper for the Rand Corporation titled "The Implications of the Possible End of the Arab-Israeli Conflict for Gulf Security," Khalilzad (and 2 co-authors) described all the good things that would redound to the U.S. if we could only bring about peace between Israelis and Palestinians."  Yes, Israel always gets blamed because the Palestinians never want peace and have their own political agenda intermeshed with their religious reasons.  "Khalilzad attributed the special relationship with Israel to several factors:  "shared cultural bonds, U.S.-Israeli strategic ties [dwindling in the aftermath of the Cold War], and the well-organized pro-Israel sentiment in the United States:  The lobby." .  They are referring to AIPAC ( The American Israel Public Affairs Committee).  It works to strengthen   relations between the United States and Israel, not to tell Israel what to do.  It does this by bringing facts from Israel to the USA.  Evidently Khalilzad doesn't understand their position all that well.  
The USA " renewed criticism of the UN Human Rights Council in 2007, arguing it had shown a misplaced focus on Israel while giving a free pass to countries with poor human rights records. The US opposition failed.  The reason listed " was the "council's relentless focus during the year,  said US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. "At the same time, the council failed during the year to address serious human rights.  This  year was spent on a single country - Israel,"  Violations were taking place in other countries such as Zimbabwe, DPRK (North Korea), Iran, Belarus and Cuba," he said. France supported the draft, as did Britain and China.  
                                                                   
UN
            
The UN Human Rights Council's draft resolution  on the body's working rules 145-7 through a rare vote forced by Israel was being opposed by Israel, United States and  five other countries, including Australia, Canada and the Pacific island nation of Palau. 
Durban I was held in South Africa in 2001.  However, also in 2007, Zalmay backed Durban  III, a strongly anti-Semitic world-wide meeting.  This happened after serving as ambassador to Iraq.  Had he picked up the negativity this enemy of Israel displayed?  The first Durban conference became an instrument for racism itself, particularly directed against Israel. This agenda was driven by Iran and a number of Arab states, and primarily by the participants in the antisemitic NGO (non-governmental organization) Forum.   The 2008 conference was just as bad.  "This Durban strategy, led by NGOs, is behind the BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) efforts, which are justified using the rhetoric of human rights, to demonize and delegitimize Israel." On April 20-24, 2009, in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations will host the “Durban Review Conference,” (Durban 2) – a follow-up to the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR). As mandated by the UN General Assembly, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UNHRC) is responsible for organizing and convening the event “towards the effective and comprehensive implementation” of the conclusions and recommendations of WCAR, and to continue the “global drive for the total elimination of racism.”  Evidently it wasn't going well.  "Americans were asked to : Contact your congresspeople and senators. SECRETARY RICE AND AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD: America will not fund a racist conference under the Orwellian guise of its being "anti-racist."The Durban conferences had previously been criticized by Western governments for allegedly promoting rather than combating racism. AustraliaAustriaBulgariaCanada, the Czech RepublicFranceGermanyIsraelItaly, the NetherlandsNew ZealandPoland, the United Kingdom and the United States all boycotted Durban III held in NY City in November 2011.  The same countries, excluding Austria, Bulgaria, France and the United Kingdom, also previously boycotted the Durban Review Conference in 2009.
                                                                                   
He was interviewed on Fareed Zakaria's program, GPS this morning, which brought him to my attention.  Fareed asked him what he thought of Trump's anti-Islamic rhetoric?    Both men are Muslims.  
He's a Republican.   Would he want to work under Trump?  "According to the Washington Post, Khalilzad is “generally well liked by Democrats.”

Zalmay became a USA citizen while in Afghanistan along with 16 others on October 1, 2004.  He made a speech then, "Remarks by U.S. Ambassador and Special Presidential Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad at U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Ceremony."  He also has citizenship with Austria, where he met his wife while serving as ambassador to Afghanistan.
                                                                            
Kabul's Sakhi Shrine
George Bush appointed him. He was accused of backing Islamic fundamentalists who were attacking Afghanistan.   "Dr. Khalilzad? Would that be the same Zalmay Khalilzad who oversaw the mobilization, leadership, funding and coordination of, and the media support for, the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists who devastated Afghanistan and Bosnia?  Evidently his problems centered around oil.  "The  'oil consultant' label trivializes the harm Khalilzad has done."  "It was Khalilzad who drew up risk analysis for the trans-Afghan pipeline in the late 1990s.  The trans-Afghan pipeline was one of the primary agendas behind 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan.              
Taliban terrorists

Khalilzad negotiated for and with the Taliban. The Taliban are terrorists.  Khalilzad played a major role in the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy. Iraq is now  a failed state, mostly taken over by ISIS.  That strategy didn't work out well at all.                                                                         
We can all read more about him.  "Khalilzad's political autobiography,  The Envoy: From Kabul to the White House, My Journey Through a Turbulent World  was published by St. Martin's Press in 2016.

Resource: Farid Zakaria Sunday morning CNN program
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/US-attacks-UN-Human-Rights-Council, Nov 17 2007
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalmay_Khalilzad
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2004/12/20041214113020.klctb_surqzqr5d1vp-ypgnatsinahgfa.html#axzz466JMsmbq
http://emperors-clothes.com/archive/khalilzad-facts.htm  Attacks against Zalmay.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/04/15/exp-gps-khalilzad-sot.cnn
http://www.jpost.com/International/Jewish-groups-hail-new-US-envoy-to-UN
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/reports/durban_conference_0/
http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/243/tell-un-ambassador-khalilzad-to-stand-tall
http://mondoweiss.net/2007/04/in_97_amb_khali/-
http://www.globalresearch.ca/from-bolton-to-khalilzad-bush-administration-s-new-un-ambassador-will-continue-the-war/4087

Afghanistan and the Taliban Terrorists

                                                                       
Our USA State Department was not sure whether or not the Taliban are still terrorists 3 years ago in 2013.
They had opened an office in Qatar to bring on stability without the USA's help.  Afghan President Hamid Karzai has halted talks with the United States “to protest the way the Americans are reaching out to the Taliban in efforts to find a political solution to the war.” Karzai expressed his disappointment with the U.S. government for holding direct talks with the Taliban before bringing Afghan officials into the negotiations.  Not terrorists?  Then why did they kill " 14 Hazaras in Ghor Province? in 2014?  Violent attacks in Afghanistan cause a surge in child civilian casualties and impeded access to medical care then.  "The Taliban view the country's minority Shia community as apostates, and have targeted Hazaras in the past with suicide bombings and other attacks."  In this case, they stopped a bus and killed the Hazaras on it who are Shi'ites.  Are they really that much different from IS?  
The Taliban has taken over much of Afghanistan and does not want their competitor, Daesh (IS) to enter this country, so they have warned them to stay away.  "Afghan policemen stand guard near the site of a Taliban attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 27, 2015."  The Taliban has been losing some of its fighters to Daesh in the last few months, something Western countries have also noticed in some of their population.  In their letter to Bagdadi, they have appealed to him saying that the Taliban is based on "religious brotherhood "and asks him to understand and let them have a pass. Being the Taliban is a band of terrorists, there is more to it than brotherhood.  They even attack Afghanis and Pakistanis.  
                                                                               

The Taliban "is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country.  From 1996 to 2001, it held power in Afghanistan and enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, of which the international community and leading Muslims have been highly critical.
                                                                             

Their ideology has been guilty of many outlandish acts  "which resulted in the brutal treatment of many Afghans, especially women.   During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians and conducted a policy of scorched earth, burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes.  In its post-9/11 insurgency, the group has been accused of using terrorism as a specific tactic to further their ideological and political goals.   According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 75% of Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, 80% in 2011, and 80% in 2012.  

They are worse than the Mafia was in the United States in the 20's and 30's, fighting off other 

equally nasty mobs aiming to take over.  

Osama bin Laden was taken out by the USA in Pakistan in May 2011.  This also brought on 

the  assassination of many important Afghanis by the Taliban insurgents.  

"The Afghan Taliban's main goal is a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the fall of the Afghan central government under Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban leadership operates in so-called leadership councils (shuras). The main Taliban leader was Mullah Omar, who reportedly died in April 2013. He was replaced by Mullah Akhter Mansoor, although some senior Taliban members do not recognize him as their leader."

Afghanistan is not doing well.  It is one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of about 28,395, 716 people who are 99% Sunni and some Shi'a.  It's an Islamic state following the Hanafi and Jafari fiqhs like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, etc.  It is the 12th largest Muslim majority state, whereas Pakistan is the 2nd largest with 172,800,000 population and 97% Sunni and Shi'a, also another Islamic state.  Afghanistan is one of the least developed and most corrupt states in the world.  .  
                                                                              
Pashtos "Afghan Amir Sher Ali Khan (in the center with his son) and his delegation in Ambala, near Lahore, in 1869.

Out of Afghanistan's population, about 13,750,117 were Pashtuns in 2008, just a little less than half the population.  Some, no doubt, belong to the Taliban, but not all of them.  Those that don't have suffered harm from them.  The Pashtos are made up of several different tribes claiming descent from several different groups.  An interesting point  is that several tribes come from the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel.  "According to Ethnologue, the total population of the group is estimated to be around 50 million but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979.   Estimates of the number of Pashtun tribes and clans range from about 350 to over 400."
                                                                                
Indian Bollywood actor, Saif Ali Khan's paternal ancestors were Pashtuns.
The movie, Eklavya-The Royal Guard, stars Saif, of which is the only Indian video I possess.  Born in New Delhi, India,  he is the son of 
Sharmila Tagore, and Indian cricketer, Mansoor Ali Khan. Both his grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, and father were professional cricketers. His mother, Sharmila Tagore, an actress within her own rights, is the grand-niece of renowned Rabindranath Tagore, who converted to Islam after marrying Saif's father. 

"Many high-ranking government officials in Afghanistan are Pashtuns, including: Zalmay RasoulAbdul Rahim WardakOmar ZakhilwalGhulam Farooq WardakAnwar ul-Haq AhadyYousef Pashtun and Amirzai Sangin. The list of current governors of Afghanistan, as well as the parliamentarians in the House of the People and House of Elders, include large percentage of Pashtuns. The Chief of staff of the Afghan National ArmySher Mohammad Karimi, and Commander of the Afghan Air Force,Mohammad Dawran, as well as Chief Justice of Afghanistan Abdul Salam Azimi and Attorney General Mohammad Ishaq Aloko also belong to the Pashtun ethnic group."

There is so much to improve on in Afghanistan, where does one begin;  from the culture comes this corruption that is running amok.  No wonder terrorists do well here.  Wherever people do not follow their  law, it develops; here, Mexico, wherever.  It must start with politicians, and then expect others to do the same.  


Resource: http://www.newsweek.com/taliban-warns-isis-dont-come-afghanistan-343651
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban_insurgency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtuns
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2013/06/19/state-dept-unsure-if-taliban-still-considered-terrorists/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/07/afghanistan-attack-201472553221541767.html
****http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/10/pashtuns-and-jews-who-have-lived-in.html