Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts

Mar 17, 2010

The US did not "invade" Afghanistan

The western media has always framed the presence of US and other international forces in Afghanistan negatively. We constantly read and hear from the media the word “invasion” to articulate the presence of US forces in Afghanistan.

It is true that US forces are using the territory of Afghanistan in the war against terrorism, but does that mean that the US invaded Afghanistan? Simply put, the answer is no. This is because the United States was invited by the Northern Alliance, and the two united to stand against the Taliban, who at the time had seized almost 95% of the country.

Nine years of US presence in Afghanistan have passed. There are about 36,000 US troops who are not part of ISAF serving in the east of Afghanistan. As of October 2009, the ISAF had 67,700 personnel from 42 different countries including the US, European countries, Australia, Jordan and New Zealand. Now, does that mean that 42 countries invaded Afghanistan? Continue reading...

Mar 31, 2009

Cycling and Exploring

I made this video for my Farsi blog readers but then I thought I should post it here as well. The pink bicycle helped me to explore the Duke Campus, the city and also do some shopping but at the end of the day both my knees felt stiff. Some may find it funny to see me on a pink bike (which is for women) but guess what, I don't really care what others think of me. I don't have a car and I needed to explore the campus and what would be better than a bike. You might ask then why a pink? Well, that was the only bike that I had access to.