Taliban use 8 year old girl as suicide bomb

[wautd]

Allah is great

Taliban use girl, 8, as bomb mule in attack on Afghanistan police post

Afghanistan's interior ministry says girl died in blast after insurgents gave her a bag containing explosives

Taliban insurgents used an eight-year-old girl carrying a bag of explosives to attack a police checkpost in central Afghanistan, the Afghan government said on Sunday, making her one of the youngest child bombers of the decade-old conflict.

The incident took place in Char Chino district of central Uruzgan province, the interior ministry said. "The insurgents handed over a bag with a homemade bomb to an eight-year-old girl and asked her to take it to police forces," it added.

"As the girl was getting close to the police, it exploded and killed the girl."

It was the latest in a string of unusual attacks on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

On Saturday a Taliban car bomber attacked a hospital in a remote district of eastern Logar province, damaging the maternity ward and killing between 20 and 35 people, according to reports.

Around the same time in north-western Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban deployed a married couple who attacked a police station by blowing themselves up. Two burqa-clad figures made their way into a police station in Kolachi, near the Taliban hub of South Waziristan, pretending to want to lodge a complaint, police said.

Once inside they opened fire with guns and grenades, capturing hostages and triggering a five-hour siege that left 10 people dead. "This shows how much we hate Pakistani security institutions," Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan told Associated Press by telephone.

Both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have frequently used men disguised under burqas to mount suicide attacks but the use of women is rare.

The first genuine instance in Pakistan is believed to have occurred in Bajaur tribal agency late last year, when a female suicide bomber wearing a burqa attacked a UN food distribution centre, killing 45 people.

Last week in Dir district in north-western Pakistan, police defused a bomb strapped to a nine-year-old girl who said she had been kidnapped in Peshawar then set off walking towards a checkpost.

"They told me: 'You keep on reciting Qu'ranic verses till you push the button'," she said afterwards.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have denied using child bombers, suggesting increased sensitivity to public opinion as peace talks with the US government loom.

The insurgency's conventional attacks are proving deadlier than ever. Four Nato soldiers were killed at the weekend, including two from Spain, while civilian casualties reached a decade-long high last May.

The violence comes days after Barack Obama announced plans to withdraw 33,000 American troops by September 2012, and undermines his claims to have militants "on the run".

The relentless Taliban assaults are fraying nerves among ordinary Afghans as

Nato prepares to transfer control of five urban centres, including most of Kabul, and two provinces next month.

Can they get even lower at this point? Offcourse, from their point of view, girls are worth little more than cattle anyway.

[Zaune]

I will give them the benefit of what little doubt there is and concede that it's possible the bomb was on a timer, and was supposed to go off after she'd had time to get to a safe distance.

But what kind of fucked-up mentality does it take to use children who aren't even in their teens to plant explosives for you?

[Scorpion]

But what kind of fucked-up mentality does it take to use children who aren't even in their teens to plant explosives for you?

Fundie mentality. After all, what is the big deal of an 8-year-old getting blown to bits when the destiny that awaits her in the afterlife is much better?

[FSTargetDrone]

Fundie mentality. After all, what is the big deal of an 8-year-old getting blown to bits when the destiny that awaits her in the afterlife is much better?

Do you think they really care about that? I don't know why anyone is surprised about this specific incident, or any sort of horrendous act they commit.

[Ryan Thunder]

It's worse than that. Now the occupation forces have to consider the possibility that almost anybody could be a bomber. This forces them to either allow a vulnerability to child bombers to continue to exist or start taking measures against that which could result in perfectly innocent children getting shot by soldiers. Which will then, of course, be played up to high heaven.

I do hope there's something to do about it that won't end with more kids getting killed. God, its horrible enough over there as it is.

[Zor]

Can this latest bit of Barbarism from the Taliban be used to denounce them for the scumbags that they are? Do you want the Taliban, a bunch of bastards who gladly use innocent children (something the Koran is against if i recall correctly) as expendable delivery systems in warfare, to win and suchlike?

Zor

[Todeswind]

But what kind of fucked-up mentality does it take to use children who aren't even in their teens to plant explosives for you?

Fundie mentality. After all, what is the big deal of an 8-year-old getting blown to bits when the destiny that awaits her in the afterlife is much better?

I have difficulty thinking of anywhere on earth that isn't better than rural, fundamentalist parts of Afghanistan. Its understandable that people who live in a backwater desert shit-hole in the middle of nowhere are more prone to believing stupid crap like this, you almost have to believe that there is some route to a life of "paradise" (read not a sweltering shit bucket of a village) accessible to them somehow.

[Count Chocula]

What we and Coalition forces SHOULD do is propagandize the shit out of this, and spray leaflets all over the state of Afghanistan with pictures and words saying something along the lines of "the Taliban use your children as bombs! Do you want YOUR child to be a bomb for Allah? If you don't come talk to us!" It's cliche, but a hearts and minds campaign is effective. On the one hand, you have accidental civilian deaths inflicted on the populace by infidels, which are terrible but not deliberate. On the other, you have deliberate murder of Muslim children by their fellow Muslims. Which is more heinous and polarizing? I hope our troops are smart.

This is about the worst thing the Taliban could have done in the wake of Obama's announcement of a troop drawdown in Afghanistan.

[K. A. Pital]

This is the Taliban - like, world's poorest and worst theocracy. Every bit of negative PR they could've gotten, they already had.

Part of the problem is that yeah, the US never takes the correct approach to propaganda. It should concentrate on every dark age brutality that the Taliban signifies if it wants to achieve anything in Afghanistan.

[blahface]

What we and Coalition forces SHOULD do is propagandize the shit out of this, and spray leaflets all over the state of Afghanistan with pictures and words saying something along the lines of "the Taliban use your children as bombs! Do you want YOUR child to be a bomb for Allah? If you don't come talk to us!"

The problem with that is that they are mostly illiterate.

[Count Chocula]

The problem with that is that they are mostly illiterate.

Have you ever heard of pictograms, dipshit? Like the ones we use on food packets?

Oh BTW, according to the CIA World Factbook, which I found after Shroom777 seconds of Googling, is 43% for males in Afghanistan. Guess those are the alpha males, you know, the ones who actually organize a fucking government and run villages and help the Taliban and make deals with the Americans and British and Dutch etc. Only 12% (est.) in 2000 of females were literate, but remember we're still dealing with a pre-medieval religion-cum-government that assigns no value to women; that's more literacy in the women than I expected, frankly.

The point, blahface, is that you're being an ignorant, lazy, smarmy dickhead and you'd better step up your game. Oh yeah, welcome to the board!

[wautd]

But what kind of fucked-up mentality does it take to use children who aren't even in their teens to plant explosives for you?

Fundie mentality. After all, what is the big deal of an 8-year-old getting blown to bits when the destiny that awaits her in the afterlife is much better?

What? Being one of the virgins that a male suicide bomber can fuck at his leasure?

[Norade]

What? Being one of the virgins that a male suicide bomber can fuck at his leasure?

If you were a horny fundie wouldn't you think that all little girls should grow up to lose their virginity to your dirty terrorist cock?

[Broomstick]

What we and Coalition forces SHOULD do is propagandize the shit out of this, and spray leaflets all over the state of Afghanistan with pictures and words saying something along the lines of "the Taliban use your children as bombs! Do you want YOUR child to be a bomb for Allah? If you don't come talk to us!"

Would be more effective if the illiteracy rate in Afghanistan wasn't so damn high: only 43% of the men can read, only 12% of the women.

We need loudspeakers.

This is about the worst thing the Taliban could have done in the wake of Obama's announcement of a troop drawdown in Afghanistan.

That's probably why they did it.

It also wouldn't surprise me if the people behind this tend to view girls as disposable, though using a girl would outrage the west more, or a combination of the two.

[PeZook]

We need loudspeakers.

Literacy helps propaganda, but doesn't prevent it. You'll just have people doing what they used to do a while ago, that is gathering around people who can read. Then the information will spread through gossip.

I'd like to see what sort of propaganda if any the occupiers are doing, to be honest. Propaganda won't win a war, but winning without good propaganda can be waaaaay more difficult than is necessary.

It also wouldn't surprise me if the people behind this tend to view girls as disposable, though using a girl would outrage the west more, or a combination of the two.

Thing is, while extreme fundies would tend to view little girls as disposable tools, extreme fundie FATHERS of such girls will not, and those are the people who must be targeted by propaganda. Even if you grew up in the sort of society where an eight year old is a family asset to be married off at 12, I can't for the life of me imagine most fathers wouldn't care about their daughters on some level.

[Knife]

Fuck. OBL is dead, pull our troops out and let the shit hole do what it wants and save their 8 year old's for next time.

[Zaune]

Fuck. OBL is dead, pull our troops out and let the shit hole do what it wants and save their 8 year old's for next time.

And let the Taliban undo every inch of progress made in pulling the country out of the dark ages? Even if the resulting atrocities don't concern you, there's a practical side as well; the Afghan government is still a mess, and the police and military aren't likely to stay loyal once the pay stops turning up. Guess who the biggest client for private military contractors will be after we pull out? If you need a hint, stick the phrase "ten dollar Taliban" in the search engine of your choice. That'll do wonders for Pakistan's internal security, won't it?

[Big Phil]

Fuck. OBL is dead, pull our troops out and let the shit hole do what it wants and save their 8 year old's for next time.

And let the Taliban undo every inch of progress made in pulling the country out of the dark ages? Even if the resulting atrocities don't concern you, there's a practical side as well; the Afghan government is still a mess, and the police and military aren't likely to stay loyal once the pay stops turning up. Guess who the biggest client for private military contractors will be after we pull out? If you need a hint, stick the phrase "ten dollar Taliban" in the search engine of your choice. That'll do wonders for Pakistan's internal security, won't it?

So what? The Taliban don't have the reach to hurt the US, and likely never will. Even in 2001 it wasn't the Taliban who attacked the US; it was Al Qaeda, and even they had to have so much luck on their side a conspiracy theory almost makes sense.

So the US pulls out of Afghanistan, it continues to be a pre-medieval shithole, and life goes on. The alternative is we stay there for another 20-50 years, it still ends up a shithole, and thousands more Americans die for nothing. I'd rather no more Americans die.

[K. A. Pital]

Americans should have never supported jihadist factions in Afghanistan in the first place. Yes, it would've been a secular dictatorship like, say, Iraq, but even between Iraq and Afghanistan lies an unspeakably large maw - Iraq is modernized, even if that happened through Saddam's brutality, whereas Afghanistan is simply regressive in every bit of cultural attitude and such.

But now America bears some responsibility for Afghanistan. If dying Americans save some Afghanis from death, that is a noble cause. After all, all lives are equal, don't you agree?

America sponsored jihadists in the 1980s to kick out Soviet forces. America invaded Afghanistan after 9/11 with its own revenge in mind, but that resulted in deposing the Taliban.

If America washes their hands now while the nation is a complete wreck, who is going to rebuild Afghanistan? Three imperialist powers - Britain, Russia and America - all had a hands in making Afghanistan a wreck and ruin. Nobody seriously thinks Russia or Britain have either money or ability to restore Afghanistan to normality, right? Right.

On the other hand, yes, if America leaves, then Afghanistan's government will become more legitimate and stop being associated with foreign occupants. It can help it hold on for a while, and maybe it will become THE legitimate government of Afghanistan.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Fuck. OBL is dead, pull our troops out and let the shit hole do what it wants and save their 8 year old's for next time.

And let the Taliban undo every inch of progress made in pulling the country out of the dark ages? Even if the resulting atrocities don't concern you, there's a practical side as well; the Afghan government is still a mess, and the police and military aren't likely to stay loyal once the pay stops turning up. Guess who the biggest client for private military contractors will be after we pull out? If you need a hint, stick the phrase "ten dollar Taliban" in the search engine of your choice. That'll do wonders for Pakistan's internal security, won't it?

Have we really made that much progress in elevating Afghanistan from the dark ages? When we went in there, it was a theocratically-minded bloody tribal kleptocracy whose principal exports were opium and extremists. Now, it's a thoroughly-corrupt backwards tribal kleptocracy whose principal exports are extremists and opium.

Furthermore, Pakistan falls firmly under the "with friends like these...who needs enemies" class of ally. The only reason anyone bothers to prop them up at all these days is because they have a handful of nuclear weapons, and nobody is keen to see them stolen or sold (they're not liable to use them on India . . . India is capable of responding far out-of-proportion to the amount of harm Pakistan can inflict with its nuclear arsenal.)

What's likely to happen to Afghanistan when the last coalition forces leave is that the Afghan government will shamble along for a while and have its effective control quickly reduced to Kabul and outlying areas. This control will only be enabled by copious quantities of foreign aid. When Western governments get tired of throwing good money after bad, the aid will dry up and Afghanistan will return to its accustomed resting state.

[Zaune]

@Big Phil: Did you miss the part where I pointed out that this would basically make a gift of the services of a lot of unemployed, US-trained military personnel to the Taliban? And the fact that neighbouring Pakistan already has thoroughly documented (and Wikileaked) issues with the security of their weapons of mass destruction? You do the math.

(Edited to clarify who I was addressing.)

[Big Phil]

@Big Phil: Did you miss the part where I pointed out that this would basically make a gift of the services of a lot of unemployed, US-trained military personnel to the Taliban? And the fact that neighbouring Pakistan already has thoroughly documented (and Wikileaked) issues with the security of their weapons of mass destruction? You do the math.

(Edited to clarify who I was addressing.)

You're suggesting that the Taliban will borrow Pakistani nukes and come over the US and detonate one, is that it?

Why haven't the Russians been nuked then?

[Zaune]

I wouldn't use the word "borrow" -factions in the Pakistani government might be leaking intel but I doubt they're that stupid- and it might not be the continental US, but that's the general gist of it. Can we at least agree that doing anything to exacerbate the internal security problems of a nuclear-armed country is a very, very bad idea?

[Big Phil]

I wouldn't use the word "borrow" -factions in the Pakistani government might be leaking intel but I doubt they're that stupid- and it might not be the continental US, but that's the general gist of it. Can we at least agree that doing anything to exacerbate the internal security problems of a nuclear-armed country is a very, very bad idea?

How the fuck does staying in Afghanistan minimize the possibility the US could be nuked by a pissed off Taliban or Pakistani?

[Knife]

Fuck. OBL is dead, pull our troops out and let the shit hole do what it wants and save their 8 year old's for next time.

And let the Taliban undo every inch of progress made in pulling the country out of the dark ages? Even if the resulting atrocities don't concern you, there's a practical side as well; the Afghan government is still a mess, and the police and military aren't likely to stay loyal once the pay stops turning up. Guess who the biggest client for private military contractors will be after we pull out? If you need a hint, stick the phrase "ten dollar Taliban" in the search engine of your choice. That'll do wonders for Pakistan's internal security, won't it?

I would agree with you if we've even had an inch of progress. Not too sure there has been that much. We went over there to fucking kill OBL and fuck up his friends who helped him. Mission accomplished, time to pack it in and come home. I feel bad they live in a shit hole, feel bad they're a bunch of redneck goat herders, but they were that before we got there, and will be till they stand up and change, not us making them change. And quite frankly, we don't have the money to do it, and I don't think our peeps should die trying to pretend we can do it. Blood for the blood god does not interest me.