They're back with a vengeance

They're back with a vengeance - the Taliban

The war in Iraq gets worse by the day and pundits in the know are predicting that it is only a matter of time before civil war breaks out. So much for the success of the Coalition of the Willing in bringing democracy and peace to Iraq.

Meanwhile, Condi Rice recently stopped off in Afghanistan to show solidarity with Pres. Karzai. Good photo op but little more. All reports from Afghanistan paint a picture of a narcon State with little progress to show for all the effort of stationing foreign troops there, including those from Australia.

If "proof" was needed of how bad things are in Afghanistan this report by The Independent says it all

"The letter pinned overnight to the wall of the mosque in Kandahar was succinct. "Girls going to school need to be careful for their safety. If we put acid on their faces or they are murdered then the blame will be on their parents."

Today the local school stands empty, victim of what amounts to a Taliban war on knowledge. The liberal wind of change that swept the country in 2001 is being reversed. By the conservative estimate of the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, 100,000 students have been terrorised out of schools in the past year. The number is certainly far higher and many teachers have been murdered, some beheaded."

Read the complete disturbing article here.

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