A second tragedy in Afghanistan (audio)

Ashley Wells, Pfc. Sandoval, CC Liu, (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Bill Chappell (npr.org)

Ancient Bamiyan destroyed to turn sentiment against the "Taliban" a joint creation of the CIA and neighboring Pakistani intelligence and clandestine services (Nat Geo)

The landslide that struck Afghanistan's Abi-Barik village Saturday came in two stages. The second, larger landslide claimed the lives of the first wave of rescuers (Sayed Ibrahim/AP).

 

The CIA/Taliban's handiwork (CNN)

First we Americans invent excuses to invade an innocent but very geopolitcally strategic country, now this.

Will we use it to say, "We were going to leave, but now we simply must remain, even if it's against your will, due to humanitarian concerns"?

Afghan Landslide: Search ends; thousands feared dead

(NPR) More than 2,500 people are believed dead after a hillside collapsed on part of a remote village in Afghanistan. 

Rescue attempts have largely been abandoned. Heavy rain prompted the landslide, which enclosed hundreds of houses in more than 30 feet of mud.

 

The U.N. and relief agencies are working to help more than 4,000 displaced people in Abi-Barik, the village in northeastern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province [just above Kabul] where the landslide occurred. The event took place in two stages, the BBC reports:

"Hundreds of homes were buried on Friday when a section of a mountain collapsed following torrential rain.

"A second landslide then followed, killing the rescuers who had rushed in to help dig people out."

As the news agency says, the landslide hit Friday morning, a traditional day of rest in Afghanistan, meaning that many residents were in or around their homes.

 

The exact death toll may not be known for days. Friday afternoon, conflicting reports from Afghan officials put the number of the missing at anywhere from 400 to more than 2,100 people.

 

"That will be their cemetery," the Associated Press quotes Mohammad Karim Khalili, one of Afghanistan's two vice presidents, saying Saturday: "It is not possible to bring out any bodies." More

• VIDEO: BBC coverage of the disaster

New "cemetery" in Abi-Barik. Afghan villagers now pray at the site. Rescuers searched in vain for survivors. Thousands are feared dead (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).