Those trying to help get murdered.

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/3ajka57

Troops have no choice about being out there, but civilians have.

Why go out there to help these people, only to be murdered by them?

/// Gen Kemtuz said a third Afghan man, who had been travelling with the group, survived.///

/// 'He told me he was shouting and reciting the holy Koran and saying 'I am Muslim. Don't kill me',' Gen Kemtuz said.///

Typical of these cowardly Afghans.

[boxtops]

AOG - if you read my post I stated that I am not an apologist for the Taliban, I have no time for any extremist groups (most of whom do not represent the vast majority of any population) and for you to suggest otherwise about me is an insult. You know - being widely read as I can tell from your many posts on here - that the Taliban have claimed to have done things over the years which subsequently it was proven they hadn't. It isn't "end of", you are going by one report alone. Had I gone only by the radio report I heard this morning, I would not know of the Taliban claim For all I know you have only read the DM report, which is hardly unbiased on anything it reports on.

We can't read or discuss one news report out of context ,which seems to happen often with posts of this nature - an article has to be discussed in context not just as a one-off, which is why I mentioned that muggings etc happen all over the world. If it was the Taliban, they have murdered two fellow Muslims too, and that won't get them any Brownie points in the Islamic world.

[naomi24]

Boxtops, I know you're not a sympathiser, but the quote comes from AOG's link. I don't believe the Taliban claim responsibility to gain political points - I believe they're the perpetrators - and this isn't the first time they've murdered people for the same reasons.

[naomi24]

Boxtops, in response to your reply to AOG, yes, they have murdered fellow Muslims too, but those Muslims were working with the 'infidel' aka the enemy, and therefore the Taliban will be awarded plenty of brownie points by their supporters - of which there are many.

[boxtops]

I respect your viewpoint naomi - we'll see! More may come out about this incident.

[Gromit]

Here is a tough one.Who do we believe, the Taleban or the British?

http://www.independen...-to-iran-2026864.html

As a rule, I tend not to believe the enemy's propaganda. Pity other hang on to the Taleban's every boast.

[naomi24]

Gromit, it appears you think the Taliban’s claims somehow raise their profile in the eyes of anyone who wouldn’t put such atrocities past them. Well they don’t. They simply confirm the Taliban to be the barbarians they are.

//………will try to discover if he was involved with groups other than the Taliban. …… we do not think he was a long-term Taliban agent. //

….. all of which confirms that he had links to the Taliban. Who do we believe? We will have to await the outcome of the investigation.

[Gromit]

// However, many Westerners in Afghanistan were sceptical of the claims and suspected that Dr Woo and her party may simply have been the victims of bandits, and that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for propaganda purposes.

Gen Agha Noor Kemtuz told The Sunday Telegraph the doctors had passed through the province two weeks ago en route to neighbouring Nuristan. They were attacked as they returned from Nuristan and had stopped for several days in a forested region called Sharone. He said: "The local people told them not to stay there because it wasn't safe." //
http://www.telegraph....p-in-Afghanistan.html

[boxtops]

The radio reports this morning pointed out (as I suggested yesterday) that when a Taliban claim is genuine, they usually claim ownership of the deed immediately. This claim came several hours later, almost as an afterthought. Their charity employer also stated that there is no way that these people would have been proselytising, they were there to do medical work. There is nothing yet to say that this wasn't just a bunch of bandits and the Taliban thought it would look good if they claimed it was their followers. We can't make statements about the truth behind all this yet - you can think what you like but the fact remains that whoever did it, we have lost some internationally skilled eye surgeons, to the detriment of the uninvolved civilians on the ground in Afghanistan (and before I get jumped on, yes, not all Afghans are Taliban-followers any more than all the irish weren't in the IRA).

I would rather read the Telegraph and Indy reports than the usual sensationalist dross pumped out by the DM, any day.

[Gromit]

Naomi24

//………will try to discover if he was involved with groups other than the Taliban. …… we do not think he was a long-term Taliban agent. //

That does not confirm a Taleban link. It says they do not believe a Taleban link, but they are investigating whether he was linked to another group.

Afghans do not have to be in the Taleban to object to their country being invaded by Britain and the US. I suspect every Afghan objects to the westerners presence in their country. The Taleban will claim responsibility for any westerners killed, by disgruntled individuals or by bandits, because ridding the country of westerners is a popular cause.

[Gromit]

// There were competing theories over the motive for the attack, with police saying it was likely a robbery, while two militant groups claimed responsibility, said Frans.

Frans said a militant group known to operate in the northern region, Hizb-e-Islami, first said it had carried out the killings.

Northeast Afghanistan has been regarded as largely free of the Taliban-led insurgency troubling other parts of the country. //

http://www.google.com...Q03V3706OaGBnh924H1FQ

[boxtops]

Useful link Gromit, thanks

[naomi24]

Gromit, no, it says they do not believe he had long term links to the Taliban, which suggests he had links, albeit short term links.

[boxtops]

Naomi, I think you are splitting hairs there. Let us wait for the official investigation, all this speculation about whodunnit is pretty pointless at the moment.

[naomi24]

No, Boxtops, I'm reading what the report says. However, I do agree that the argument is pretty pointless at the moment. As I've already said, we'll just have to await the outcome of the investigation.

[Gromit]

Naomi,

You are reading something that is not there. Not having a long term connection is not proof of a short term one.

I could say Naomi does not have a long term connection to organized crime. And it means just that.

[naomi24]

Gromit, no, it doesn't mean just that. To state that I have no long term link to organised crime suggests I have some sort of link, otherwise there is no reason to mention my name in connection with organised crime at all. However, as Boxtops and I have both said, this is a pointless debate, so carry on if you like, but I'm off.

[Gromit]

For a bit of burglarizing perhaps?

[naomi24]

Haaa! Yep, just climbed into my stripey burqa and have my bag marked 'swag' slung over my shoulder. :o)

[anotheoldgit]

///. I suspect every Afghan objects to the westerners presence in their country. ///

Yet another dramatic incorrect statement, courtesy of Gromit.

Does that include the Afghan Government who urge us to stay, or the Afghan army & police who are fighting by our side?