Back in September 2001 there was an international embargo against arms exports to Afghanistan. A few months later, this was lifted, although it was clear that the US / UK etc military action had not quite brought peace and democracy to the country. An article reproduced on the website "Common Dreams" reports that the US is now planning to fund - to something in the region of $400 million - the export of massive quantities of arms from Russia to Afghanistan. The article states:
"If fully trained it will provide a formidable force against insurgents and potential foreign aggressors, including Pakistan where tensions are high on the southern border.
'This is completely refitting the Afghan army for the long term and it should stop a resurgence of the Taliban in its tracks,' a British arms expert said. 'The order will take a year to make and deliver but the Russians are used to large quantities.'
A senior British officer said: 'The point of getting Afghanistan up and running is so they can take on their own operations.
'This deal makes sense if we are going to hand over military control to them.'
Some observers pointed to the irony of the deal, because when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan the Americans sold Stinger surface-to- air missiles to the Mujahideen to enable them to shoot down Moscow's aircraft."
Meanwhile, Oxfam is one of agencies behind the Control Arms campaign, whose week of action is now underway ... from the Oxfam website:
" From May 22 – 28, over 900,000 signatories of the Million Faces petition will be presented to key decision makers in many countries around the world by Control Arms activists.
This is all part of the drive to keep up the pressure for an international arms trade treaty as the crucial United Nations Small Arms Review Conference draws ever closer. We will be posting reports of events around the world on this page as they come in.
Meanwhile, there is still time for you to add your support by supporting the petition or passing it on to friends and family.
Join the Million Faces Petition at http://www.controlarms.org/"
And read their material on the human cost of armed violence here.
