An open letter to Mark Sedwill.
Peter Dow wrote:
Ambassador Mark Sedwill, NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan - Questions
Mark Sedwill
Firstly I wish to say to you that you are a braver man than me Mark Sedwill for braving the dangers of Afghanistan and very good luck to you and all your colleagues out there and thank you for your courage and dedication to a worthy cause.
Secondly, I have some loaded questions for you.
Would your Afghanistan mission not be made easier if there was a parallel NATO campaign to ferment republican revolutions through the Arab world, including north African countries such as Egypt, which are ruled by monarchs and dictators who have been directly funding or promoting by satellite TV or internet the Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere?
Specifically does NATO, ISAF, General Petraeus or anyone in command have the authority (or wish they had the authority) to stop hostile satellite TV stations such as Qatari-controlled Al Jazeera from broadcasting by jamming the satellite transmissions, knocking out satellite ground control facilities, or knocking satellites out of orbit by missiles or other means?
Or were General Petraeus's hands tied by President Obama to leave the Arab kingdom customers of US corporations well alone even when in his previous post he Petraeus was responsible for U.S. operations in 20 countries spreading from Egypt to Pakistan—including Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom?
I'd like to know if NATO's civilian and military personnel in Afghanistan are getting the political support you deserve back home?
Is there ANY sign whatsoever of robust political republican leadership against duplicitous Arab and north African rulers - monarchs and dictators - whose regimes are covertly funding or promoting our terrorist enemies - be they the Taliban in Afghanistan or other Al Qaeda type groups elsewhere?
Or are our brave men and women in Afghanistan to be tied out like sacrificial lambs and are your lives at risk a cost you, on our behalf, are paying because the politicians back home are more concerned with promoting business or political deals with back-stabbing undemocratic regimes, whose rulers have rigged elections or never even been elected and who deserve no more than to go the way of Saddam Hussein?
Specifically, are NATO personnel alert to the dangers of trying to buy your personal security or security of supplies by paying off terrorists or warlords who will only use the pay-offs to re-arm and come back stronger with greater costlier demands and in long run, bribing our enemies is no way to defeat them?
I ask because of this report -
"U.S. funds our enemy Taliban's Afghan war"
CBS wrote:
Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are fuelling corruption in Afghanistan and funding the insurgency, according to a six-month investigation by the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign affairs.
The committee's chairman, Rep. John F. Tierney, D-Mass., told CBS News: "the business is war and the war is business and you've got 'Warlord Inc.' going on over there."
Committee investigators found that private contractors in Afghanistan have been paying local warlords, criminals, government officials and a list of others for security on Afghanistan's roads, to get much needed supplies to U.S and NATO bases. But even worse, anecdotal evidence indicates that U.S. tax dollars are also going into the hands of the Taliban, who own many of the roads and areas through which the trucking convoys have to pass, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.
Mark, would you take the view that if you or your supply lines could not be safe without bribing the Taliban or warlords then maybe you should either all come home for now or be urgently reinforced to a size of army which can defend its own supply lines with its own soldiers and transport police?
You will know that there is a small but significant first Afghanistan railway project underway and there are plans for further investment and development of railways there.
Would you say that an extensive Afghanistan rail network project was overdue and why has NATO not already laid a rail track for its own supplies into Afghanistan? Has NATO been timid and lacked vision with regard to major infrastructure investment? Or do we want to take everything of ours with us when President Obama orders a pull-out before the 2012 elections?
Finally, do you like my video about Afghanistan's new railway project, introduced by video of my favourite person who is just great at defending trains from terrorists.
"Despite terrorists, Asia's trains do the locomotion with Condoleezza Rice." (YouTube)
Thanks again Mark and take care.
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