Afghan desert key to world security, says Blair

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan - The security of the world will be decided on the desert battlefields of Afghanistan, British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday told his troops on the frontline of an increasingly bloody war.

“Here, in this extraordinary desert, is where the future of world security in the early 21st century is going to be played out,” Blair told his troops in remarks barred from publication until he flew out of Camp Bastion in Helmand province.

Afghanistan’s western allies say the Taliban is on the run, despite a resurgence, but Blair’s long-planned visit has been kept in strict hour-by-hour secrecy due to security fears.

“You may not know this, but people back home are very proud of what you do, regardless what they think of political leaders,” he told troops in the desert province that is a Taliban stronghold and the opium capital of the world’s main producer.

Fighting in Afghanistan this year is the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban’s hardline government exactly five years ago. The British troops in Helmand and other NATO troops in the south have been at the forefront of the combat.

And with the rise in fighting and a redeployment to the Taliban’s southern heartland, British casualty rates here are now higher than those in Iraq, with 36 killed since June.
British Gen. David Richards, the head of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, has said his countrymen in Afghanistan face the bloodiest fighting since the Korean War and are six times more likely to die in Afghanistan than in Iraq.

“We want to be here. We want to be doing our job,” Sgt. Chris Hunter, 31, from Swansea, Wales, told Blair at Camp Bastion in the chill morning air of an Afghan winter.

“It’s a point that’s lost back home,” Hunter said.


...& what would the point be, exactly?

A New Do

had been meaning to update but had gotten caught wif new stuff/work/season...sorry babes..

well, fer the latest, do drop by to my new site @Multiply

i won't delete this blog...just in case u need to tag me..(dunno how to upload a tagboard there & in any case, can't be too bothered to do it...eheh) i'll check in time to time...

so, see ya peeps!

juz fer fun

Calculating your superhero identity for the day...
Rummaging through your unpublished autobiography...Searching the sky for signs...Flipping through virtual dictionaries....

Your Superhero Identity For Today Is:
Name: Blue Raven

Secret Identity: Mai Sarah

Special Power: Twisting Ears

Transportation: Electric Bathtub

Weapon: Psionic Cannon

Costume: Leopard Skin Sport Coat

Sidekick: Black Dan

Nemesis: Jasmine the Unspeakable

Tragic Flaw: Big nose (yeah thanks a lot!)

Favorite Food: Cheez Whiz

The Kite Runner

"...his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase."

I could almost see the streets & the bazaars/souks in Kabul...Could almost taste the sweetness of the pomegranates & the spiciness of the traditional naan with cauliflower curry (& i haven't eaten any of those in my whole life...'cept for the naan)..could almost hear the sound of children playing and rockets & bombs exploding.. the story-telling was so darned vivid....it takes the reader who had not seen the country in person except for the abbreviated and often-grim pictures in the television or newspapers, experience the narrator's life wholly. Shocking, tender, mesmerizing, haunting...all in one... & i don't just mean Khaled Hosseini's writing style... it makes me wonder about the strength God Almighty bestows to man...the choices man make that altogether shapes the lives they live although we're all on the same face of the earth...it's so different.. yet if i were to be thrown into the situation, i wonder if i might not just react the way the narrator had..

syabbas khaled hosseini

chups' review