Someone else's view

"Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama throwing democracy's best friends in Afghanistan under the bus" by M. Amin Wahidid and Robert Maier on http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article12192 of May this year gives an interesting perspective of how one of the ethnic groups in Afghanistan are treated. 

The authors suggest that the current Afghan army helps Taliban supporters to actively hurt the Hazara people with the willful ignorance of the U.S.  The article given no solid evidence on the theories that the current Afghan government supports the violence against these people.  Sometimes, locals in a region do know more than clear evidence can state and other times, people just have antagonistic views and conspiracy theories about unpopular politics.  Have the attacks on the Hazara people been ignored by American press, as suggested?  Probably not.  There is a lot of violence in the region and the American press tends to focus on military casualties for the American public interest.  Do Afghan papers report Detroit gang war violence when the Afghan people are far more interested in other issues?  Unlikely.

There is obvious anti-American sentiment in the article, which might reflect an popular opinion that the U.S. needs to leave Afghan as quickly as possible and let the Afghan people feel as though they have control over their country and not just have a puppet regime in place.  The article goes on to give a brief description of some big issue Afghanistan's problems, suggesting that the government is purposely aggravating the situation.  The opium business is also blamed for much of the unrest (which, might I add, the English newspapers do report).

The Hazarajaat people are described in a favorable light as peaceful, productive, and democratic.  For these reasons, the article claims, the people and region is ignored.  An example is given of a  promised highway not being built and other construction issues.  What the authors fail to mention is that if government support did pour in and help the region, what about other pressing issues that also need time focus and money of the government?  Is it more important to develop a rural region, or rebuild major cities?

Also described are the various hardships the Haraza people have/are gone through and (real or imagined) harm done by the government.  The article also suggests possibilities for helping these people, including eliminating their nomadic life style.

 If this these people, these regions, are as positive as described, then support for education, cultivation, women's rights, and other issues would be a boon to support U.S. assistance and give a strong foothold for positive growth in Afghanistan.  Perhaps some other agencies in the U.S. are working with these people, trying to gain and keep support, which cannot otherwise be reported due to covert operation.

This article is recommend to read, if only to give Americans an idea of some of the sentiments and issues face by the people in Afghanistan, NATO, U.S. military, and other groups besides that of roadside bombings.