Past one month I’ve come across mostly fiction & propaganda writing on #Afghanistan.
Here is my response to another such fiction writing published by Bloomberg with totally tone deaf & historical inaccuracies. [Thread] bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
1. Imagine invading a foreign country with no war plan & then occupying it for 20 years wasting 2 trillion dollars sponsoring corruption & warlords.
Then having the audacity to blame a neighbor for all your failures that advised to the contrary.
2. How many times does it take to repeat a lie for it become an established truth? This $33b dollar US aid only funded the US contractors & consultants at the expense of $150b Pakistan suffered.
Since US likes honesty, the USG owes Pakistan a good $120b if we go by the numbers.
3. News flash for editors at Bloomberg, the US-PAK relations for last 70 years have been narrowly focused on security & transactional pivoted around US short term interests.
But ofcourse your lazy research & intellect on the subject presents this as ground breaking “policy”.
4. Blackmailing Pakistan with a threat of forcing an economic collapse of Afghanistan says less about Pakistan’s behavior & more about inhumane & deeply colonial mindset of the Western powers. But don’t let humanity come in the way to your talking points.
Conclusion: These propaganda pieces are not accidental & are carefully curated talking points pushed as “news”.
The only real enemy the US is facing is its own lies, confirmation bias & hypocrisy.
Plz excuse my tone, as a scholar, I find such intellectual dishonesty repulsive
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1. Deeply disturbing & deplorable level of state brutality against unarmed protestors many of whom were actually women, children & old. The images & videos will haunt this nation for a long time. Shameful to justify or celebrate it.
2. The state machinery especially Police requires urgent reforms to save this country from implosion. The police is meant to serve people, not act as a private militia for any political party in power against all those out of power.
De-politicise the police. Period.
3. SS is no NS and last night was perhaps a shocker to PMLN & its supporters over how poorly the entire fiasco was (mis)managed.
The sheer silence of other PDM allies throughout the day was most meaningful.
That the "Jalsa turnout" & "social media" presence doesn't really translate into votes may be true in the past but this conventional wisdom is probably not accurate anymore & requires serious adjustments based on the new data driven by disruption in technology. Here is why:
1. Increased Mobile users:
2018: 110 million
2022: 187 million
Just between 2021-2022, over 10 million new mobile connections were added.
2. Increased Internet Users
2018: 44.6 million
2022: 83 million
Just between 2021-2022, the internet users increased by 22 million (36% growth)
3. Increased Internet Speed
The mobile internet speed increased by +26.5% & fixed internet by +29%
If the goal is to increase public sector performance, here is what is needed:
1. 4/4.5 days work week
Forget about Sat, officials barely work even on Friday after Jummah. Smart thing to do is to make a 4/4.5 day work week with Fri dedicated only for trainings/capacity building
Adding more days, especially Saturday, will only add more pressure on domestic family life while reducing motivation & productivity. If cellular biology teaches us anything it is that people perform best when well rested in a friendly & conducive environment - not under pressure.
2. 6 hours work day
An avg human at best has only 4-5 solid productive hours in a day after which there is marginal utility. Make official timings 9am-3pm since commute on avg takes up more than 90-120 minutes every day. Regardless, many ministries are empty after 3pm anyway.
The recent crisis in #Afghanistan has exposed many but none more than the Western powers. Be it human rights, academia or sports the Western hypocrisy is now well established.
"What Monday's announcement from the ECB confirming the cancellation of their tour to Pakistan sustained, was a culture of double-standards which appears to view some nations are far less important than others." @GeorgeDobell1
"Despite having asked numerous nations to put up with various hardships to ensure they could honour their own broadcast agreements, England appear unwilling or unable to reciprocate when other nations are the ones in need." @GeorgeDobell1