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U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

(www.reuters.com)
350 points tepidandroid | 14 comments | 19 Sep 19 16:51 UTC | HN request time: 1.643s | source | bottom
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wruza ◴[19 Sep 19 20:46 UTC] No.21020575[source]▶
Now imagine “U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in France” and feel the difference (which is non-existent). Then it goes on tv and reads the list of this morning’s evil men who must be stopped.
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1. mieseratte ◴[20 Sep 19 08:36 UTC] No.21024454[source]▶
As much as I would love the US out of Afghanistan, there’s a war on over there. Yours is a disingenuous comparison.
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2. alpaca128 ◴[20 Sep 19 09:33 UTC] No.21024804[source]▶
A war where the US were totally forced to participate, of course, like always...
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3. lawn ◴[20 Sep 19 10:48 UTC] No.21025203[source]▶
Which in reality should be the real crime. To start a war killing countless of innocent people... for what?
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4. kmjg88nvf8 ◴[20 Sep 19 11:24 UTC] No.21025373[source]▶
So do you care about the civilians, or not? It seems possible US engagement saves more civilians than it kills. At least that is presumably the general idea.
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5. kmjg88nvf8 ◴[20 Sep 19 11:27 UTC] No.21025402[source]▶
So how did war in Afghanistan start? Taliban apparently came to power via war a couple of years before US engagement.

Suppose that was a crime. Who punishes the criminals? Maybe that is exactly what the US sees itself doing?

Unfortunately to punish war criminals, usually you have to win against them in a war.

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6. megous ◴[20 Sep 19 11:49 UTC] No.21025568{3}[source]▶
Unlikely. There were massacres during the Taliban rule outside of war, but it was at much lower scale than in the current war, and US only helps taliban grow by its intervention, it seems, if you look at the numbers of fighters.

It's not like killing a person with certain beliefs stops the beliefs from spreading.

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7. tempodox ◴[20 Sep 19 12:06 UTC] No.21025712{3}[source]▶
The Taliban were a tiny splinter group before the US financed and trained them. They have always been fanatics. Funny how they were not called terrorists while the US thought they could use them for their own ends.
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8. mad_tortoise ◴[20 Sep 19 12:10 UTC] No.21025734{3}[source]▶
The US is in afghan for one reason only, opioids. It's no coincidence that US opioid addiction rates skyrocketed in the years following the Afghan invasion. The big pharma companies benefit from the US controlling the worlds major poppy fields, and in turn they pushed their product unto the masses.
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9. pnako ◴[20 Sep 19 12:37 UTC] No.21025985{4}[source]▶
I'm sorry but your explanation makes no sense. Oil is wherever it is located, so you have to go there if you want to take it or protect it. But you can grow poppies in most places. It makes no sense for the US to spend something like a trillion dollars and thousands of lives for something they could grow in California or Texas.

In fact we actually grow opium in Australia.

10. kmjg88nvf8 ◴[20 Sep 19 13:18 UTC] No.21026325{4}[source]▶
Why did the US fiance and train them? So it seems there was another war going on? Who started that war, and why?

Also I think they changed their allegiances, so they became terrorist towards US people?

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11. kmjg88nvf8 ◴[20 Sep 19 13:19 UTC] No.21026340{4}[source]▶
So you think it would be OK to live under Taliban rule? They didn't come into power by democratic elections, it seems.

Also, killing people with beliefs does stop beliefs from spreading. How much of Afghanistan do the Taliban control these days, anyway?

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12. lawn ◴[20 Sep 19 14:06 UTC] No.21026802{5}[source]▶
> Who started that war, and why?

Funny you ask... It was called the cold war, you might want to look it up. US was a pretty big player there.

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13. kmjg88nvf8 ◴[20 Sep 19 14:23 UTC] No.21026983{6}[source]▶
So you would blame the US for cold war? What would you have done instead?

Before cold war, there was WWII, and communist revolutions.

I don't want to defend any particular war, I just think it may all be a bit more complicated than a simple "we shouldn't have started any wars".

14. megous ◴[22 Sep 19 02:06 UTC] No.21039185{5}[source]▶
Quite a lot: https://thedefensepost.com/2019/05/01/afghanistan-resolute-s...

The idea was that "possible US engagement saves more civilians than it kills", and I was reacting to that, as it is very doubtful.

I didn't say it would be ok to live under Taliban. But there are other weird islamic countries, where I wouldn't want to live either. Do you propose US making war there, too?