Think tank: 92% of Afghans never heard of 9/11

[sasha031]

Fewer than one in 10 Afghans are aware of the 9/11 attacks and their precipitation of the war in Afghanistan, says a study from an international think tank. A report (PDF) from the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) shows that 92 percent of those surveyed had never heard of the coordinated multiple attacks on US soil on September 11, 2001. It also shows that four in 10 Afghans believe the US is on their soil in order to "destroy Islam or occupy Afghanistan."

To be sure, the survey can't claim to be definitive: It only canvassed men, and relied primarily on respondents from Helmand and Kandahar, the two most war-torn provinces in the country. But the results nonetheless show that Western forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have largely failed to connect with the local population.

“We need to explain to the Afghan people why we are here, and both show and convince them that their future is better with us than with the Taliban,” ICOS lead field researcher Norine MacDonald said in a statement.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/19/think-tank-afghans-dont-know-911/

[MadHound]

1. Why are we there?

It certainly isn't 9/11. That was simply an excuse, and a poor one at that.

[sasha031]

7. I can't come up with an answer either

[Mojeoux]

11. This "Think Tank" deal is baloney. And Afganistan was once a

sophisticated culture with rights for women before the Taliban took over. The war with the Soviets, took it's toll, and our bombs shocked and killed many. But the Taliban cursed itself by cursing down women.
Cultures with equal rights for women have the strongest economies.

[drokhole]

14. Opium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan

Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since U.S. occupation started in 2001. Based on UNODC data, there has been more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past four growing seasons (2004–2007) than in any one year during Taliban rule. Also, more land is now used for opium in Afghanistan than for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 92% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.


Need someone there (our troops) to protect those fields.


Edit to add:


U.N. drug control officers said the Taliban religious militia has nearly wiped out opium production in Afghanistan -- once the world's largest producer -- since banning poppy cultivation last summer.

http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html


This was written in February 2001. When was it we invaded, again?

[reggie the dog]

21. hash too

and hash is the big money maker as cannabis is so much more popular

[madokie]

25. Opiates do have a purpose

[EFerrari]

17. BushCo wanted war powers. n/t

[MisterP]

2. I literally lol when I hear Obama say how nice he treats Muslims, how much he CARES for them nt

[Dark]

3. That's odd. You'd think more of them would be aware of the event that caused our invasion.

Sigh. How long til we leave that quagmire again?

[scheming daemons]

4. 92% of Afghans never heard of electricity, indoor plumbing, or the internet either

Meaningless stat.

The country is living in the 13th century.

[Quantess]

5. Yeah, well they may be...now.

Afghanistan was much better off once upon a time. They were doing a lot better before we (and other countries) got so involved in their business.

[jp11]

6. Not really, if we didn't bother to explain why we were there, or do much of anything to

help them in the whole 'winning hearts and minds' BS. No guarantee it would have worked, or that they would use anything we'd give/make for them like schools, roads, etc but might have been better than the time Bush spent there pissing away money and soldiers lives to have the longest war in US history.

[tekisui]

9. Link?

[nxt1]

12. QFE

The stat really doesn't mean anything.

[Gregorian]

8. But 100% of them hate us for our Freedom Fries.

Look, if you don't use it you lose it. The same thing applies to the military. You don't spend half a trillion per year and not get something to show for it. Pretty sad.

[JVS]

10. But what percentage is aware that these colors don't run?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[JI7]

16. what ?

[alphafemale]

18. You've not heard about the boys who dance then?

Have you seen the Kite Runner?

You see since these freaks find women so repulsive...they dress little boys up like women. They make them dance. And then they rape them.

Oh yeah. And by the way these boy dance/rape/party things for those fat Taliban fucks are now largely sponsored by Blackwater.

[Jim Lane]

15. A pretty dubious statistic, if you ask me.

My recollection is that, immediately after 9/11, the papers ran photos of major refugee movements in Afghanistan. Ordinary Afghans knew that, rightly or wrongly, the U.S. would blame their government. They knew that they were about to become "collateral damage" (even if they didn't know that term). They responded rationally, by fleeing, in large numbers.

That knowledge couldn't have been lost in less than ten years. My guess is that these poll respondents knew that the towers were knocked down but didn't acknowledge the existence of "9/11" as "an event that justified turning our country into a war zone."

[Art_from_Ark]

19. Why would ordinary Afghans believe the US would blame their government?

Assuming most of them even had some sort of uncensored communication with the outside world prior to 9-11 (which seems unlikely, especially outside of the major cities), why would they have any reason to believe that the US would invade their country because of attacks on skyscrapers half a world away, allegedly perpetrated by 19 people who had no connection at all with their country?

As far as major refugee movements, if you heard that an army of foreign soldiers was headed toward your area, speaking a language you couldn't understand, would you stick around to see what they wanted or why they were there?

[Jim Lane]

22. I think they knew more than you're crediting them for.

This from The New York Times on September 29, 2001, before any U.S. military action: "Millions of Afghans are fleeing their homes, partly in disgust with the Taliban but mostly in fear that America is getting ready to bomb their country." (Link: )

That fear arose because they knew about the attacks on those distant skyscrapers.

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't

When did the bu$h misadministration start getting belligerent about Afghanistan? Obviously it was before that article was published. The Taliban could just have announced that the United States was preparing to invade, without mentioning the skyscrapers at all. Also, we're talking about roughly 3 million refugees total since 2001, out of a population of about 30 million. What about the rest of the population?

[shoutinfreud]

20. The Afghans in charge did.

[Arugula Latte]

23. And I'll bet 92 percent of Americans couldn't find Afghanistan on a map, or name a fact about it.