Comment from Ratings:   This news needs to stay "on top" until replaced by the next installment! It is such a relief to know that Muhammad Khurshid is safe, while at the same time, heart-wrenching that his wife and children are still caught up in the midst of it, making it very positive and very sad all at once. Muhammad's heart must be riding in his throat, constantly, along with those of his wife and children. His "inside view" reports have been invaluable here at OEN. I can rate this News Jan has brought us only with the highest regard. May Love's Infinite Blessings BE Abounding!

by G Achin (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 110 comments [9 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 1:52:34 PM

  (0+)

     Thanx Jan...............little victories add up.

     for what it's worth, tell M  in thoughts, he is not alone.

     Tell Rob to keep this visible. It is important for so many reasons.

     peace

by mikel paul (14 articles, 1 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 570 comments [13 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 2:17:19 PM

  (0+)

What a relief to know that he and his family are alright.
I've sent what you wrote along to other people too.
We have to be able to help turn things around for this family.

by Aurora (0 articles, 95 quicklinks, 52 diaries, 648 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 2:19:17 PM

  (0+)

thank you jan. i've been meaning to contact you to see if there were any updates...i'll assume anything new you will post here. hoping rob received an envelope from me last week. definitely lifting up muhammad and his family but you as well because this must be very difficult for you.

by Cheryl Biren-Wright (30 articles, 41 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 485 comments [8 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 2:26:50 PM

  (0+)

We're all sharing this world, this life together.  Thank you to all above for your heartfelt compassion.  Muhammad knows of your concern and is moved beyond words. 

He is exhausted - both of body and spirit - but determined to get his family out of the tribal regions.  This will not be easy.  I sent a note to Rob this morning as soon as I heard from Muhammad and shortly thereafter, Rob was able to make contact via text messaging.  Rob will post another article about this situation as we are not hearing anything about it in the MSM and all hell has broken out in these tribal areas. 

And yes, Cheryl, Rob did receive your note in the mail - and we are so grateful.  Every bit helps, even $5, as those nickels and dimes may end up making enough of a difference for Muhammad to relocate his family in Peshawar.  

I will continue to post any information that Muhammad sends to me.  He has given me permission to write on his behalf and everything I publish about his plight and that of his family is first run by him for his approval.  

More than anything - he wants the world to know what is happening to his village, the surrounding areas, his people.  He is afraid they will be lost and forgotten.  He is determined that this not happen. 

by Jan Baumgartner (60 articles, 148 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 311 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 3:12:22 PM

  (0+)

....and I would like to help him get his family out.

I'm low income but I'm putting a $20 check in the mail to Rob for Muhammad.

I find this rather perplexing though. Rob is supporting Barack Obama and Obama supports expanding the war of aggression in Afghanistan (I think he may also want to invade Pakistan, which would further endanger Muhammad). So Rob is supporting the very war that Muhammad is fleeing.

Maybe there are exceptions? Maybe Rob supports Obama's desire to expand the killings except that he doesn't want Muhammad and his family killed, just other innocent people and their families?  

I don't mean any offense towards Rob, and I'm putting the check in the mail and trusting that he will use it to help Muhammad, but I do find it perplexing that people would simultaneously support aggression and yet make exceptions for and want to help certain individual victims of that aggression. Why support aggression in the first place? Wouldn't it be cheaper and a whole lot better to oppose the aggression?

I may be a dunce, but to me it is like saying that there is a guy in my neighborhood who wants to bomb a primary school and I'm supporting him and his efforts to bomb that primary school, but there is one kid in that school who is the child of a friend of mine so I want to get them out of there first, if possible. I am at my wit's end trying to understand the reasoning behind wars of aggression and the good, decent, caring, liberal or progressive people who support them. Maybe I'll just never understand it. 

Anyway, my thanks to Rob for helping Muhammad. I lived in Afghanistan for almost five years and the people there are as real to me as Muhammad is. That's why I never did and never will support killing them.

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 4:14:15 PM

  (0+)

Any amount will help; I can't afford any more than you but it adds up.

I cannot comment on Rob or his political views, however, our personal donations to Muhammad will assist him in getting his family out of Khar and relocated in Peshawar.  At the end of the day, as far as Muhammad and his family are concerned, and our motivation for doing this, has nothing to do with politics - it is nothing more than an act of friendship, of kindness and compassion for a fellow human being and his family we have come to know and care about through OEN.  Naturally, his dire situation and that of millions of others is due to politics and power struggle, but at this moment, the focus of this article is on Muhammad's plight - his well being and that of his family.

I know you know this, as do the others who have responded with such open hearts.  Survival is immediate - we can only do what we can do at any given instant - and hope against all odds it can make some small difference.

Thank you, Mark.  I appreciate your concern as does Muhammad.  

by Jan Baumgartner (60 articles, 148 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 311 comments [12 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 4:27:02 PM

  (0+)

YOu believe by not voting that something better will develop. I don't see that happening. I wish there were a more pure progressive candidate running for president, who could win, but there isn't. We need equal treatment for third party candidates and we need instant runoff voting. Until then, I'll go with the less of evils who has the greatest chance of winning. Life is full of those choices.  I am 100% certain that Pakistan will be deeply troubled for years to come and that things will get far worse before they get better. I don't really think any US president will be able to do much.

I've told Muhammad that there were many Jews who escaped Hitlers gas chambers. THey left before 1940. He has a choice to leave and should take it and go to a safer place with his family. The emigrees who escaped Germany and Poland found better lives for themselves. 

by Rob Kall (952 articles, 4177 quicklinks, 374 diaries, 2087 comments [45 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 10:01:51 AM

  (0+)

since the last time I was in touch with Muhammad, I've checked my g,ao; chat box to see his name, since we connect through gmail instant message chats, but he hasn't shown up. Today, he did and he reported to me pretty much what Jan said, that Pakistani jets, aided by USA monitor drones, have been heavily bombing the area.

Next week, we'll be sending the money weve collected for him by bank wire transfer. Hopefully it will be enough to help him move his family out of the endangered area.  I'll be picking up the costs of processing credit cards and of the bank transfer in addition to making a contribution of my own.  Jan provided direction above.

by Rob Kall (952 articles, 4177 quicklinks, 374 diaries, 2087 comments [45 recommended, 3 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 4:19:25 PM

  (0+)

That is very good of you and I'm grateful.

I wish we could have helped the, "....hundreds of people killed in front of my eyes. On my way to Peshawar I have seen several dead bodies lying on the roadside" that Muhammad spoke of, and that we wouldn't be killing hundreds and thousands more innocents.

I grieve for the millions we have already killed and the millions more we are going to kill. I know that our tradition says that if you save one life, you save the world, but what does it say about killing millions while saving one? 

I've just posted a diary, A Jew in Jalalabad, where I try to explain a little about how I feel and why.  Somehow I still feel uncomfortably out of place and suspect that my diary will fall on deaf ears, but I'm glad that at least we can work together in some ways even if we don't see eye to eye in others.

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:36:05 PM

  (0+)

     but I'm glad that at least we can work together in some ways even if we don't see eye to eye in others.

     What a nice statement. What a marvelous act.

     Thanx Mark...

     peace

by mikel paul (14 articles, 1 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 570 comments [13 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 6:43:43 PM

  (0+)

to hearing good news about Muhammad's family too, and thinking about all those trapped in this dangerous situation that we don't know about......This modern form of war that kills mainly civilians is beyond barbaric.

by Laudyms (0 articles, 1142 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 708 comments [138 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 15, 2008 at 10:35:09 PM

  (0+)

I am still puzzled to write comment on this article or not as I am feeling difficulty in fining words for presenting my thanks and gratitude to all my friends. Today I want to tell that I never saw a lady like Jan. Believe me I have no words to say them in her honor. I am just praying to God the Great that He may her all the happiness in this life and in the life hereafter if there is one.

I also grateful to Mr. Rob and all other friends for their kindness and love. The friend in need is friend indeed. You are my real friends. I am proud of your friendship. A lot of thanks

by Muhammad Khurshid (366 articles, 32 quicklinks, 263 diaries, 230 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 1:17:08 AM

  (0+)

Hello Muhammad,

It is very good to hear from you and to know that you and your family really are alright at this time,  at least for the moment. 

What you have been through over these last days is something that many of us here can only imagine.  The fighting, the killing, the violent attacks suddenly became horribly real, when the person we had been talking to in a discussion here on opednews.com suddenly disappeared, and we learn that his own family village is under heavy attack.

I am glad you are bringing your family to Peshawar for a time.  Even though there is fighting near there too,  at least it is a bit safer than your family's village,  for now.  It will give you a chance to talk about things together, you and your wife and children.  I think when you are together, you are stronger, as you can support and protect and care for each other, which you cannot do when they are far away. 

I am sorry that things have been so difficult where you are,  and I hope very much that many things will improve for your family over the weeks ahead. I wish all of your family the best for the future.

by Aurora (0 articles, 95 quicklinks, 52 diaries, 648 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 2:36:40 AM

  (0+)

    I'd like  to mention Dr. Miraki's site, which could use some generosity too.

http://afghanistanafterdemocracy.com/ 

   This site's work was put up with Miraki's own money and a few donations.  He feels pretty stranded on his mission to show the world what the US bunker busters and A10 strafings do to people.  

    Miraki never says stuff like the "security forces" are  bombing "terrorists", and when you look at the pictures you can see who is victim.    

        Sometimes Muhammed extolled Bush and Obama, and he said Rob had done a great job in the war on terror.    I don't get it.   Someone asked him a question, and he vanished without answering.

     Pushtuns stood in the way of a pipeline across Afghanistan.   Now there is a "proper" oil man leading Afghanistan after democracy, and even this puppet is gagging, both at the aerial bombardment and  knowing as a Pushtun the fate of collaborators with foreign invasion.    Let's try helping everyone over there to stop the bombing by getting informed that

1. the FBI has no evidence linking Osama Bin Laden with 9/11.

2. No credible evidence exists of Bin Laden being alive now.

3. the so called hijackers were not Afghan, and Rumsfeld said the same people bombing US mess halls in Iraq shot down the plane in Pennsylvania, so who exactly are we after, what for, and how?   

by io (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 100 comments [11 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 4:58:59 AM

  (0+)

Excellent website. I tried on several occasions to explain to Muhammad that the U.S. was not going to help him fight terrorists because we ARE the terrorists, but he didn't seem to get it. I don't know if he understands it yet or not. There are still many Americans who despite having seen live TV coverage of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, still believe that the U.S. government has some regard for human life, or at least white American human life. The simple fact is that George Bush occasionally tells the truth and when he said that his base, the only people he cares about, are the wealthy elite, the "haves and have-mores," it was a simple fact. Nobody else matters. Harboring the delusion that a government which has killed millions of innocent people might care about YOUR life can be fatal. But it isn't uncommon. I call it the Pastor Niehmoller fallacy, believing that just because your government kills OTHER innocent people, doesn't necessarily mean that they will ever get around to killing you. Unfortunately there are still people, even here on opednews, who think that when a plane hits a building the building falls down instead of the plane falling down. That has happened only twice in history, both on the same day in the same place. On every other occasion when a plane hit a building, even a small frame and stucco private residence with no steel beams whatsoever, the plane's soft aluminum nose crumpled upon impact and it was the plane that fell down, not the building even though there may have been some damage to the building. It's a hard one. Kinda like having abusive parents you are totally dependent upon as a kid, and having to understand that they don't love you and don't even care about you. It isn't something that people can easily grasp. When you are dependent upon others, you desperately need to believe that they aren't evil. The problem is that sometimes they are.

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 7:33:26 AM

  (0+)

...galoots with guns.  it doesn't matter if they work for the "government" and shoot you for a paycheck or are "private freelancers" looking for loot or helping their bosses be the next "paycheck" shooters. 

here in dominionist crackerland, we have tweekers in the country and gangsta "entrepreneurs" in the inner city.  the suburban sprawl inbetween has skillions of kops preying on the frightened citizens' cars to support the prison-industrial complex downtown.  

May Merciful God soon look upon the happy reunion of Muhammed with his family... away from the galoots with guns.  

by waldopaper (15 articles, 3 quicklinks, 34 diaries, 609 comments [84 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 1:05:50 PM

  (0+)

Muhammad, my spirit is with you, and a tiny bit of money, since I have residents in senior housing, young neighbors without jobs here in Tennessee, so I hold some for them too. These are such troubled times and I think of your family, since Jan describes how worried you are for them.

I think of my friend Molly, now deceased, who was lucky enough to escape Germany in time, although she and her family travelled almost around the world before they arrived in America. I think of the Berrigan brothers, priests who went to jail rather than support the Viet Nam war. All people deserve the right to live in safety. And the song we sing is: "When will they ever learn?"

I have friends who do not read OpEdNews. They will get this message also. It is so true. We are all in this world together!

by Margaret Bassett (45 articles, 2909 quicklinks, 42 diaries, 1851 comments [99 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 at 2:44:00 PM

  (0+)

Jan, in helping one man you are making and infinitive difference in his life right now and that " infinitive difference " will only spread to more lives.

I believe it's the law of nature. Helping one person not only makes an infinitive difference in their lives but in all our lives.

My check is in the mail to help Muhammad and his family but you reminded me to keep the mind set of doing what I can in a non political but simple human level. Thank you.   

by James Callner (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 10 comments) on Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 9:35:06 PM

  (0+)

   Mark, thanks for your comments.  It's  awesome you spent five years in Afghanistan and recognize how the people (like Miraki) feel about things.   I see the same concern about the aerial bombing in others like Greg Mortinsen who have spent time in these areas with the people.    I tried your link to the diary about Jalalabad but it didn't work.

      I don't think the invaders will stay much longer once the US collapses in bankruptcy from the New America Century.   Bush is already whining that the Russians don't wanna play twentyfirst century the PNAC way!  McCain wants to wetstart the entire world.     The US military now controls everything, and they aint  skilled at nothing but destruction.    After the US collapse and depression,    the Afghans will be left with more tears from US nuclear waste, for an eternity.

      Waldo, damn straight that terrorism is endemic in the Homeland.  It's a growth industry when all else is crumbling.   Look at the movies and TV now, all conditioning for violence, totalitarianism ,  and authoritarianism.   None of the jokes is funny anymore, it's all just ugly and stupid.    Peace activists excepted.     No real elections or Constitution no mo, the generals make all the decisions, there are no exit plans from perpetual war economy.....glad I live outside the place.      I just wish the US would stop droppin 2000 pound  bombs on my county from stealth  B2s at 30,000 feet, cuz them pups coming from Air Force crews they feed amphetamines to on the flight from Guam scare me more than the tweakers on the ground.    They already crashed one B2 in Guam.

    Goodbye to $ 1.2  Billion more.

by io (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 100 comments [11 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Aug 18, 2008 at 3:21:50 AM

  (0+)