Taliban behead 17 at Afghan party 'with music and dancing'

[cali]

Source: AFP



By Mamoon Durrani (AFP) – 3 hours ago

KANDAHAR — Taliban Islamist insurgents beheaded 17 civilians, including two women, who were holding a party with music in a southern Afghanistan village, officials said Monday.

"I can confirm that this is the work of the Taliban," the Helmand provincial governor's spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP, referring to the hardliners notorious during their rule for public executions and the suppression of music and parties.

"Two women and 15 men were beheaded. They were partying with music in an area under the control of the Taliban," he said.

Nematullah Khan, the Musa Qala district chief confirmed that the villagers had organised a party with music, and one local official said he suspected that the two women had been dancing.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gqojy8xcZTK-zbSGp9AAgfioU4jA?docId=CNG.6e2307341ae61ced58e9c345f7f0c321.6f1

[leftynyc]

1. Fucking barbarians

This highlights my problems with just leaving Afghanistan. This is what we're leaving the people (especially the women) to. There are no easy answers here.

[cali]

2. We need to get out of Afghanistan now

are we preventing this kind of thing? Clearly we are not able to. And 2 more soldiers were killed yesterday. That makes 15 in the last 7 days. We cannot change things there. We may even be making things worse. We cannot force some template onto the culture.

[leftynyc]

4. I know, as an American citizen,

that our being there isn't really helping anyone - it's currently our longest war with no clear objective - but I was screaming about the taliban long before 9/11 because of things like this OP. The UN is useless and there are no answers for the women who will be at the mercy of animals who cut off other people's heads for dancing and listening to music. It's heartbreaking.

[cali]

5. so was I concerned about the Taliban long before

we were there, but over the years I've come to realize that there really is no way that armed conflict will help women there.

[leftynyc]

6. Only if the women are armed

The whole situation reminds us how much freedom people will give up for some security. I certainly wish the UN weren't so fucking useless.

[Lasher]

3. Time to send in some drones

to drop a few thousand iPods with a shitload of party music loaded on them.

[duhneece]

9. With the ability to take pictures of the evil doers

so charges can be filed...I guess I'm feeling too optimistic. I feel SOMETHING must be done, I just don't know how or what. Our war machine is not helping. Maybe we can be part of a stronger UN or multinational peacekeeping, woman-protecting force.

[Lasher]

14. There was a time when we probably could have accomplished something.

But Cheney squandered that opportunity by sending our forces off on his neocon adventure in Iraq. We got bin Laden, now it's time to get out already.

[Ken Burch]

7. No disrespect meant to the dead, but the headline is confusing

It makes it sound like the Taliban INVITED those people to the party, and featured music and dancing WHILE the beheading was happening.

They don't even have parties like that in the East Village anymore.

[valerief]

8. Coming to American soon via our American Taliban. nt

[cali]

10. sorry, that's just displaying ignorance

of history and the history of culture and religion. Odds are miniscule that the xian right will ever have the kind of power to do any such thing, but more than that, even if they did have the power there's no historical precedent- and no the persecution of witches is NOT what historian or sociologists would call a precedent.

Yes, the xian right is a danger, but not in some cloned way of the Taliban.

[heaven05]

16. is it

a display of ignorance that for me to say that right wing religion freaks would like to have this power over women, male malcontents, and minorities? and yes the burning at the stake and torture of so-called witches by so called christians IS a precedent because it happened and in a wide spread manner. You should not take the word of so-called historians and do your thinking for yourself. You're way off base saying this persons knowledge/statement shows ignorance. and YES the right wing religion nuts are as worrisome a threat to this country as the taliban is in that country.

[cali]

17. they'd certainly like to have power over women, but they'd employ it

differently. Would you see beheadings over men and women dancing together? No. Why? Because it's a different culture with a different history. Things don't arise in a vacuum.

I do my thinking for myself. I'm educated. I have a background in history.

You're just flat wrong. No, the wingnut right is not as much of a threat to the U.S. as the Taliban is to Afghanistan. That's just muddled, dim "thinking". Why not? I'm a woman. Am I in the same kind of peril that a woman in Afghanistan is? Uh no. Duh. Ergo, one can reasonably state that the wingnut right is clearly not as much of a threat to the U.S. as the Taliban is to Afghanistan.

Now read this carefully: I find people like you tend to be selective in their reading habits or have poor reading comprehension:

Yes, the xian right wing poses a threat in this country. They pose a threat to women being able to control their own bodies and access abortion. That's probably the greatest threat they pose to citizens. They could very well overturn Roe, but beyond that, the crap they really want, like a personhood amendment to the constitution? Not a chance. Except in some sort of SciFi "Handmaiden's Tale" scenario. Clearly the xian right poses other threats: It undermines science and education and dumbs us down as a nation. They increase the chances of launching wars- and that's a very big deal.

Historical and cultural contexts are vital to understanding the differences between the Taliban and the American xian right.

[heaven05]

19. you

are entitled to think AND SAY what you must, long winded and all, and you are entitled to be wrong. simple as that with me. You always want to make yourself seem smarter than all others by putting anyone who TOTALLY DISAGREES with you down with words calling people dim and ignorant. You're entitled to be and think whatever you feel about YOURSELF. Just stop insulting the intelligence of others. Like I say, READ THIS CAREFULLY, learn some history.

[apocalypsehow]

23. cali answered you in depth and with a clear factual refutation of your false equivalence.

In reply, all you can do is whine about the manner in which you were thoroughly refuted. I'd say you got no complaint coming: if you don't wish to be shown to be wrong, don't type nonsense on a discussion forum.

[heaven05]

32. what

ever you say. there was nothing of interest in cali's statement/refutation to me, nor in yours. I stand by what I said, nonsense or not---period

[apocalypsehow]

33. Translation: "I can't refute what you wrote so I'll just pretend I don't care and move on."

Your concession (of sorts) is duly noted.

[heaven05]

34. well

I'm right some time and wrong some time. About your comments and the one you are defending, I'm right. Someone like you or the other could never get me to concede to any point you make because you are wrong and I am right, historically speaking. And yes I will move on because I have already wasted enough time on nothing. Time really is too short.

[apocalypsehow]

35. "And yes I will move on" - Again?

[RC]

36. The wing-nutz in this country are on record and almost as bad at killing women as the Taliban are.

Instead of cutting off their heads, they kill women in pregnancy and childbirth by denying them needed, legal medical care. How is that somehow better?
Maybe it's not as efficient, but it still gets the job done.

[whathehell]

31. Thank you...n/t

[sweetapogee]

37. is it just me

or is this so-called post a head scratcher? On second thought, it's me!

[Cobalt Violet]

11. I thought the same thing. n/t

[4th law of robotics]

21. Every time.

It never fails.

Whenever you post an article about muslims doing something awful someone feels the need to state that American christians are just as bad (if not worse).

It never plays out in reverse. I really hope there are kids in Iran who say after hearing about a christian in the US shooting up an abortion clinic that "muslims here are just as bad!".

But I doubt it.

[whathehell]

29. Sure, next Friday, at a party near you.

[secondvariety]

12. What is wrong with human beings?

[pscot]

20. We are what we are

Self-regarding apes with pretensions to civilization.

[whathehell]

30. What's this "we" stuff?

Oh yes...The "american taliban" is right around the corner.

[4th law of robotics]

22. Religion is apparently a pro-survival trait

given how common it is.

I guess those with the most extreme forms of religion are out killing and raping while those who are more mellow stay at home and get killed/raped.

This doesn't make them nice people but it does mean their genes get passed on.

[RKP5637]

28. Humans have advanced technologically but not sociologically ... there is a very

thin line between civilization and barbarianism. Frankly, many humans scare the sh** out of me.

[RVN VET]

13. Maybe slightly off-topic, but has anyone asked John Walker Lindh

I can't help but wonder what he thinks of his buddies and the horrors they've perpetrated on the Afghan people in the last dozen years.

I've always thought -- and still do -- that Lindh was railroaded into prison on charges that wouldn't stick if they'd been challenged. That said, he went into Afghanistan to fight on the side of the Taliban, a group never suspected of being humane. And those who lie down with dogs and bitches get up with fleas and crabs. But I'm curious to know whether he thinks it's righteous and holy to behead people for trying to have a good time.

I imagine the kid has been placed so far out of contact by the so-called exigencies of National Security that he quite likely hasn't been privy to any of the ghastly atrocities his comrades-in-arms have perped. He should be. And we should all be privy to his reaction to them.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

25. He's an idiot and likely mentally defective

Anyone who drinks the kool aid of any extremist religion is weak minded, and will just give you a shitty answer anyhow. He probably would think it's great and give some convoluted justification, or call you an infidel for asking. Whatever, fuck him and his crew.

[heaven05]

15. this

is male dominated religion. this is the type of control our rightwing religious taliban would like to have in america. religion can put ones health in serious jeopardy.

[slackmaster]

18. Religious fanaticism strikes again

[lunasun]

24. Murderous Savage Haters - Sorry for Party Rocking assholes

He suspected that the two women had been dancing. Horrors!! not dancing....
wtf and again what century is this?
hope we never get regulation like that here with the AmericanTaliban
what fun will we have?
Wont have too much sex with out birth control if it is all unprotected unless you want a lot of babies
then next no parties with music and dancing ??? could go down fast

[primavera]

26. OMG, women were dancing?!

Death was clearly too good for them.

[hlthe2b]

27. Just when I think nothing could horrify me more than what I've already heard...

read, and imagined--I get a very unpleasant surprised..


Sometimes, I just want to hang out with the (non-human) animals.