Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Us Military Desecrates Bodies Of

Juan Cole 10/21/2005

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

US Military Desecrates bodies of Afghans to Uproar
Or, what in the World do they Think they are doing there?

The burning and desecration of Taliban bodies as a technique of intimidation in Afghanistan by US troops has backfired big time. Afghanistan clergymen are hopping mad at the US, and opposition to continued US troop presence in Afghanistan is growing.

Just when you hoped that US helicopters helping evacuate earthquake victims from Muzaffarabad might make some friends for the US in that part of the world, something like this emerges.

As at Abu Ghraib, the basic problem is that the US wants to cow and intimidate the Muslim or nationalist forces threatening it and its Muslim allies. But the techniques chosen to accomplish this goal are repugnant to all Muslims, and cut down on the number of allies.

Me, I’m not sure what 20,000 troops in Afghanistan are even doing any longer. They sure aren’t capturing Bin Laden or Zawahiri. As for the remnants of the Taliban, you don’t need 20,000 US troops to deal with them. NATO is doing a good job in Afghanistan, and the US should bow out in favor of it until the Afghanistan government can stand alone.

As for combatting the Taliban, we should stop pretending that is what the Americans are doing. When the deputy governor under the Taliban who oversaw the blowing up of the Buddhas of Bamiyan is sitting in the new parliament, it is hard to see how the large US troop presence even matters any more.

And keeping a division in Afghanistan may end up turning the country against the US again. Isn’t that where we came in? No, maybe that was where Brezhnev came in.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • Iraqi Shiites Demand Expulsion of US Troops after Israel Attacks Iran
  • An Iranian-American View: Tehran will Never Surrender
  • Why did Israel defy Trump – and risk a major War – by striking Iran now? And what happens next?
  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved