Afghan Leaders Try to Halt Exodus, but Pleas Ring Hollow

[pakistani342]

@A-Team, @Sher Malang -- would love you comments on the points that Asharf Ghani's and Abdullah Abdullah's children live abroad?

@A-Team, @Sher Malang -- Gen Stanley McCrystal's comments on how many Afghan elites have their sons on the battlefield?

Excellent article on NYT here, excerpts below:

“Their own children study, live and are having fun in Europe and America,” Mr. Abas said. “They cruise in their armored Lexus in front of us and they don’t even slow down — we eat their dirt. And if we complain, they smash us in the mouth.”

......

Mr. Ghani’s two children live in the United States. The families of his vice presidents reside in Turkey and Iran. The family of Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, is in India. The families of the top cabinet ministers, presidential advisers, deputy ministers and even some agency directors all live abroad.

.....

In 2010, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, then the commander of United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, raised the issue in an emotional meeting of President Hamid Karzai’s national security council as one reason he thought the war had lost focus and could not be won easily, according to notes of the meeting shared by one Afghan official at the meeting and confirmed by another.

“My father is 86, and he has a nephew fighting in Khost and another in Shindand,” General McChrystal said at the meeting. He added, “General Parker’s son lost his leg in Helmand,” referring to his British deputy, Gen. Nick Parker, whose son had two legs amputated after a roadside bombing. (In an email, General Parker said he had not been at the meeting himself but was later told about it by General McChrystal.)

General McChrystal then followed up with a question for the Afghan ministers at the table: “How many of you high-ranking Afghan officials have sons on the battleground?”

The silence was punctured by a senior security official making sure he had heard the question correctly through the translation on his headset.

 

[A-Team]

@A-Team, @Sher Malang -- would love you comments on the points that Asharf Ghani's and Abdullah Abdullah's children live abroad?

@A-Team, @Sher Malang -- Gen Stanley McCrystal's comments on how many Afghan elites have their sons on the battlefield?

Excellent article on NYT here, excerpts below:

“Their own children study, live and are having fun in Europe and America,” Mr. Abas said. “They cruise in their armored Lexus in front of us and they don’t even slow down — we eat their dirt. And if we complain, they smash us in the mouth.”

......

Mr. Ghani’s two children live in the United States. The families of his vice presidents reside in Turkey and Iran. The family of Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, is in India. The families of the top cabinet ministers, presidential advisers, deputy ministers and even some agency directors all live abroad.

.....

In 2010, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, then the commander of United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, raised the issue in an emotional meeting of President Hamid Karzai’s national security council as one reason he thought the war had lost focus and could not be won easily, according to notes of the meeting shared by one Afghan official at the meeting and confirmed by another.

“My father is 86, and he has a nephew fighting in Khost and another in Shindand,” General McChrystal said at the meeting. He added, “General Parker’s son lost his leg in Helmand,” referring to his British deputy, Gen. Nick Parker, whose son had two legs amputated after a roadside bombing. (In an email, General Parker said he had not been at the meeting himself but was later told about it by General McChrystal.)

General McChrystal then followed up with a question for the Afghan ministers at the table: “How many of you high-ranking Afghan officials have sons on the battleground?”

The silence was punctured by a senior security official making sure he had heard the question correctly through the translation on his headset.

I think this is a very common practice in the 3rd world countries and Afghanistan is no exception. People take pride in having a 2nd nationality and some spend years in pursuit of one. I think Karzai's immeidate family are still in Afghanistan but Ashraf Ghani's 2 kids are working in the states, I have no idea about AA.

I personally dont care much if they have 3 of 4 nationalities but as long as they serve the country but as General Mcchrystal alluded its very hard to be fully involved in a country when you have plan B in place!

 

[pakistani342]

I think this is a very common practice in the 3rd world countries and Afghanistan is no exception. People take pride in having a 2nd nationality and some spend years in pursuit of one. I think Karzai's immeidate family are still in Afghanistan but Ashraf Ghani's 2 kids are working in the states, I have no idea about AA.

True ... but I think the extent to which it exists in Afghanistan is extreme

Abdullah's immediate family has lived in Delhi for about two decades now and I'm surprised this is not a election issue

I personally dont care much if they have 3 of 4 nationalities but as long as they serve the country but as General Mcchrystal alluded its very hard to be fully involved in a country when you have plan B in place!

But precisely -- how is it that American boys and girls are dying for Afghanistan yet Afghan elite's children are not -- and the media stunt by Dostum doesn't really count.

The Afghan diaspora in the US is more elitist than the Pakistani diaspora one can argue, yet the Afghans that seem to go back and help are the ones who would not find competitive jobs in the US: political scientists, artists, broadcasters, etc. If you look at the faculty of American University in Afghanistan, you will find Afghans largely missing from action?

I think proclaiming long live Afghanistan or long live the ANSF will not fix Afghanistan if Afghan elites outsource the building of their country to Americans, Indians and yes even Pakistanis.

 

[A-Team]

True ... but I think the extent to which it exists in Afghanistan is extreme

Abdullah's immediate family has lived in Delhi for about two decades now and I'm surprised this is not a election issue



But precisely -- how is it that American boys and girls are dying for Afghanistan yet Afghan elite's children are not -- and the media stunt by Dostum doesn't really count.

The Afghan diaspora in the US is more elitist than the Pakistani diaspora one can argue, yet the Afghans that seem to go back and help are the ones who would not find competitive jobs in the US: political scientists, artists, broadcasters, etc. If you look at the faculty of American University in Afghanistan, you will find Afghans largely missing from action?

I think proclaiming long live Afghanistan or long live the ANSF will not fix Afghanistan if Afghan elites outsource the building of their country to Americans, Indians and yes even Pakistanis.

I agree with some aspects of your post, majority of the Afghan elite have been selfish and have been one major source of the misery of this country.

The common Afghan is dying and paying the price everyday on average 30 soliders dead everyday, not one is the son of an afghan minister, this is the reality and we need to be frank about it.