Okay. President Karzai needs to let the people of Afghanistan know when they cooperate with enemy targets they can suffer consequences.

This is an outrage that Afghan civilians were supporting the insurgency of Taliban by purchasing stolen fuel that will eventually kill NATO and/or Afghan soldiers. I don't have sympathy for people if they are 'accepting' the Taliban as merchants of stolen goods.

The 'warlord' culture has to end. It cannot continue. When military supplies are stolen there should not be a market for them at the next 'hide out.'

Thievery of fuel supplies belonging to NATO troops is an 'underground.' The people of Afghanistan can't have it both ways. They can't seek to have a country free of hardship while at the same time prolonging the war. Assisting the Taliban by purchasing stolen supplies needs to be seen as a crime as much as the acts of violence by the Taliban. The Taliban would have used the fuel and the monies obtained from its sale to kill Afghan troops. That doesn't mean anything to the people of Afghanistan?

The civilians need to remove themselves from the Taliban culture and seek for success for their military. This is an antiquated 'warlord' culture that can't be tolerated anymore. The civilians have to remove themselves from the 'war theater.' A stolen NATO supply tanker is a part of the 'war theater.' There are consequences to being a part of that 'underground' culture.

...Afghan and NATO officials say that Taliban insurgents in the northern Kunduz province were driving two hijacked fuel trucks to an unknown destination when fighter planes located them on a river bank and bombed them.

NATO officials say the pre-dawn strike destroyed the fuel trucks and killed a large number of militants. Villagers, however, say locals had also gathered around the hijacked trucks to collect fuel from them when the attack occurred. It caused a huge fireball, they say, that instantly burned most of the people alive....

The statement by UN Special Representative Galbraith shows concern for the civilians of Afghanistan and rightly so, but, it also shows concern for the fact the civilians involved were indeterminable by the military fighting the war to stop the insurgency.

Statement by the Deputy UN Special Representative, Peter Galbraith on Kunduz airstrike (click here)
Kabul, 4 September 2009 - I am very concerned by the reports we have seen this morning of casualties among civilians from an air strike against stolen trucks in Aliabad district of Kunduz province.
As an immediate priority, everything possible must be done to ensure that people wounded by this attack are being properly cared for, and that families of the deceased are getting all the help they need.Steps must also be taken to examine what happened and why an air strike was employed in circumstances where it was hard to determine with certainty that civilians were not present. UNAMA is sending a team to look into the situation.

The United Nations has been 'in the trenches' with the Afghan people since the beginnings of the war in 2001. They can make a difference if they begin to speak in a 'reasonable' tone that 'instructs' the Afghan people of cooperating with Taliban criminals.

These Taliban stole the fuel. They were more than willing to break Afghan law and use the fuel for purposes of killing more people, be it Afghan civilians in car bombing or suicide bombing or Afghan military personnel or NATO troops. That is criminal activity. They understand it and they can comprehend what is right and best for them and what isn't.

The PROBLEM is the tolerance of The Taliban/Warlord culture. It was tolerated by President Karzai to attempt to maintain control of some semblance of government. It has to stop. There is a 'right' and a 'wrong' and this act of aggression by the Taliban that involved so many innocent Afghans was wrong !

Thursday, 15 November, 2001, 17:13 GMT
UN aid shipment reaches Afghanistan (click here)

The first substantial United Nations aid shipment has crossed the river from Uzbekistan into northern Afghanistan.

A barge carrying 200 tonnes of wheat flour crossed from the Uzbek port of Termez to Hairaton, 18 km (11.2 miles) away on the Afghan side of the river.
The aid arrived as relief agencies warned that a humanitarian disaster was imminent, with 3.4m Afghans dependent on aid to survive through the harsh winter.
Meanwhile, a senior US official visiting northern Afghanistan has pledged more than $5m to aid agencies in the region....

The United Nations has perspective on this insurgency and the horrible treatment the people of Afghanistan are rendered under their power. The UN knows the nightmare of civilization in the reality of international criminals that bomb infrastructure killing innocent people. The UN is well vested in this action.

It is time to stop the 'permission' given to criminals. According to the USA military leadership we are facing a rough road for the next year to eighteen months until the insurgency is brought under control.

The Afghan people have to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem by allowing themselves to be involved with criminals that seek to destroy their government and enslave the Afghan people. I know they don't want the 'dark days' of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar back again. I know they don't.

They need leadership they have come to trust to 'instruct' them on behavior that will facilitate their safety and bring peace to their country quicker than any military can. They have to limit their 'economy' to what any country would view as 'legal.' What occurred today was criminality that increased the danger to civilians (other than the ones at the tanker site), Afghan military and NATO troops. They know better than this. The Afghan citizens aren't acting out of anger in cooperation of the Taliban, they are acting out of permission to participate in an 'underground' culture.