Don’t blame Taliban for 9/11 attacks – Yorkshire Post Letters

KEITH Massey (The Yorkshire Post, September 11) eloquently deplores the horrifying attacks on the USA 20 years ago. Then he moves on seamlessly to the 20-year war against the Taliban, as if one followed naturally from the other. But it didn’t.

The US attacks were masterminded, not by “ragtag” Taliban but by a Saudi billionaire’s son named Osama bin Laden. Angered by Muslim deaths in the Middle East he became a religious fanatic, vowing retribution with no holds barred.

Initially he supplied and funded the Mujahideen militias opposing the Russian invasion of Afghanistan – who were also supported by the USA. Later he founded al-Qaida, and launched several terrorist attacks before those on New York and Washington which killed 2,977 people.

So while Keith Massey is right that America and Britain lost many lives in “the bloodbath of Afghanistan”, he could have added that the bloodbath was their own creation. He is right that they went there to destroy terrorist bases, but wrong in saying they went “to bring education and opportunities to girls and women”: that was not an invasion aim.

However Keith Massey’s most regrettable omission, when describing the death toll on the invaders, is the far greater toll of Operation Enduring Freedom on the Afghan people. Alongside 2,461 American military deaths and 457 British, Afghan deaths are estimated at 157,000 including 66,000 soldiers and 47,000 civilians, many of them children.

American airstrikes alone killed 4,800 Afghan civilians – more than those who died in the USA 20 years ago. But I have found no mention of them on this anniversary, and they have no memorial.

From: Richard Bird, Leeds.

THE situation in Afghanistan is horrendous, yet the country who gave safe haven and refuge to the leaders who planned this violent takeover while our brave British soldiers and others were losing their lives in Afghanistan was Qatar.

This is the country which will host the World Cup in 2022. If the participating nations and the big sponsors had any shred of principle, then they would immediately withdraw from the tournament and refuse to travel to this country. But will they? Not a chance.

From: Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow.

COUNCILS in the UK have been asked to support the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme. It is estimated that over 20,000 will be resettled in the UK. There are 129 MSPs and 650 MPs all earning between £64,470 and £157,861.

There are 800 people in the House of Lords entitled to £323 a day in attendance allowance. Our politicians must lead by example. Instead of being funded by the taxpayer, politicians should house an Afghan family or substantially contribute to their cost.

Six years ago Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, promised she would take a Syrian refugee family into her own home. Strange that there have been no regular press releases as to their progress.

From: Allen Jenkinson, Liscomb Street, Milnsbridge.

WHO gets first dibs on the available housing in Doncaster, the Afghan refugees or the 8,000 people already on the waiting list?

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