Mural of murdered Japanese doctor in Afghan capital erased

I wish that I could suggest that this story is an anomaly, and that it will not be repeated time, after time, after time, after time. . .

The un-winable war was lost by Bush, Obama and Trump. Poor old Joe just did what needed to be done and pull down the curtain on an ongoing expensive failure. Don't forget it was Trump whose deal was carried out but plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the US political divide.

a Japanese doctor who devoted his life to drilling wells

Dr Nakamura did so much more than that.

Such a description is so shallow that is is an insult to him memory.

He built sewage systems, irrigation systems , health clinics, schools, bridges roads, micr0-hydro generation systems.

And I mean the word, "built". He swung the picks, drove the trucks, operated the earthmoving equipment

He also taught construction, repair and structural engineering skills, so the systems that he constructed could be expanded and maintained locally.

And there was his medical work.

When he was murdered, I really feared for the future of Afghanistan.

And Afghani who would murder this man is just stupid.

it is what happens when a country intervenes into a civil war. The Afgan people did not have the will to fight the Taliban. This is just like, China, Korea, Vietnam, etc. The USA could of saved money and not bother to train "soldiers" who hand over their weapons to the enemy. One thing for sure is Saudi and Pakistan are supporters of the Taliban. If not their governments then important people. The USA has all of its efforts at putting down Iran which did nothing in this conflict.

Removing the mural of a foreign doctor who dedicated his life to helping his fellow man is just the kind of iconoclastic act to be expected of these narrow-minded garden-variety Taliban tribalists . Dr Nakamura can wait: for his service to the Afghan people he will be honored again in due course.

Ignorance is a diseases that can be cured by knowledge, I hope that the Taliban will Honor Mr. Nakamura once they learn of his accomplishments.

These Taliban has the mentality of a child, the majority of them are illiterate and addicted to smoking heroin, drug. and religion has always been a dangerous combination, it obvious their is no central authority in charge in Afghanistan, when hellfire missile start falling from in their leadership, it may stop their abuse

Since when has a mural that has been painted over made news. Nonsense

The mural itself may not be a big deal, the man depicted in the mural, however, probably did more to help the people of Afghanistan than the entire coalition forces did.

The “new” Taliban govt are saying they want good relations with Japan and continued support from Japan, while their actions show a complete lack of respect and gratitude to a Japanese man who did help them.

Rightly or wrongly they see him as a representative of the occupation of Afghanistan.

LamillyToday  07:16 am JST

Since when has a mural that has been painted over made news. Nonsense

Yes, removing of art and information has never been the start of something worse right?

I suggest you take a look into history of 1930's Germany before posting ignorant comments.

First they erase murals and then they will end up erasing people.

Sickening, but predictable since the Taliban despise the likes of Dr Nakamura.

I hope Japanese remember this for a long time when the terrorist, women-hating, illiterate Taliban come begging for big development money. Stick to dealing with Chinese Communists.

In the end, the sacrifice of Dr. Nakamura was for nothing.

Nakamura must be crying to witness what Afghanistan has become from heaven.

@YuriOtani

This is just like, China, Korea, Vietnam, etc. The USA could of saved money and not bother to train "soldiers" who hand over their weapons to the enemy.

China and Vietnam, yes.

Korea, hell no.

This can't be right. I mean, just last week the head of Britain's military told us that the Taliban are our new friends:

We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies,” Lord Palmerston famously told the British parliament when he was foreign secretary in 1848. Over a century and a half later, during the so-called war on terror, Britain has abided by Palmerston’s morally ambiguous approach towards international relations, with disastrous results. 

The head of Britain’s military, General Sir Nick Carter, illustrated this perfectly when he said last week: “I think you have to be very careful using the word enemy. I think people need to understand who the Taliban actually are … and the plain fact is that they happen to live by a code of honour and a standard… [which] has honour at the heart of what they do.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/08/26/friends-enemies-four-failed-wars/

So destroying the mural to Dr. Nakamura was part of their code of honour? What strange new friends we have....

The Taliban are not against Dr Nakamura. Their ideology forbids idol worship in the form of pictures and statues. So pictures and statues have to go. It's the pictures they don't like not the doctor.

The Taliban are not against Dr Nakamura. Their ideology forbids idol worship in the form of pictures and statues.

Tell that to the faction of Taliban who killed Dr Nakamura.

Even the strictest of fundamental Islam only prohibits images/idols for the purpose of worship.

Pictures and illustrations for educational and informational purposes is ok.

Even murderers can feel a sense of guilt. Anyway, they don’t want to be reminded of how cruel and stupid they are.

The people of Afghanistan fail themselves,and complaining about American withdrawal ,we are not international babysitter,these Afghanistan people will learn the hardest lesson,if they did not learn it in Afghanistan,the average American could care less about their plights

Beer delivery guy,the average illiterate Taliban cannot even read the Koran,how are they gonna interpret something they cannot read,they are doing a disservice to other literate Muslim

The fate of Dr Nakamura and his mural is symbolic of a lot. I mean, how could the whole Washington/NATO defense and foreign policy establishment get it so wrong? One answer is that, if you want to become and remain a member of the establishment, you must never make waves. Since almost all the people in question want to be something, not do something, they follow that rule regardless of where it leads. A defeat in a war is but a small matter when compared to a risk to their careers.

Another answer is that members of the Western foreign policy establishment are almost all nominalists. That is to say, if they give something a name, it takes on real existence in their minds. The Afghan National Army offers a perfect example. Because we called it an 'army', gave it lots of American money, equipment and training, and knew its order of battle, it was an army, dammit! But it wasn’t an army. Apart from a few commando units, it was a ragtag collection of men who needed jobs and had little or no interest in fighting. Those men seldom saw their pay, because it was stolen before it reached them. Rations and ammunition often suffered the same fate. That army collapsed overnight because it never really existed outside the minds of Western nominalists.

That same nominalism applied to the entire Afghan government. Washington nominalists thought it was real; Afghans knew it was not. A Marine battalion commander wisely noted back in 2011 that “Talking to a 14th century Afghan villager about the government in Kabul is like talking to your cat about the dark side of the moon: You don’t know for sure what it’s like, and he doesn’t care.”

We see the same inane, inept nominalism running all through American policy-making. Washington nominalists think Iraq is a state. It isn’t, because real power is in the hands of ethnic and religious militias. The state is merely a facade, but since it has a parliament, elections, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, etc. it is 'real' to the nominalists. Not surprisingly, US policy there has been a series of disasters ever since the initial disaster of invading the place.

The Washington establishment’s civilians have been soaking in nominalism ever since they began their “education” at various elite institutions. Woe to any who pointed out that the U.N. has proven worthless in one crisis after another, that our “democratic” allies are all really oligarchies or that “human rights” vary enormously in their definition from one culture and people to another. To call an entity a state or an army or a democracy means it magically becomes one. And the magical thinking that dominates the establishment’s picture of the world leads to repeated debacles from which it learns nothing.

The Shape of Things to Come…don’t say you didn’t know this would start up, all over again.

Good Luck World.

Oh well

No surprise from the dirtbags that blew up the big Bamiyan statues 20 years ago.

His memory will live on and stand for what some good people tried to do in Afghanistan. Tragic yet telling that the ‘new?’ Taliban felt the need to erase the mural. Painted with white ay? Shoulda stuck with black fellas, cause it’s a dark and irrational gesture.

It wasn't the Taliban that killed him.

Memorial pictures are not allowed... They don't even mark graves. Just a hole covered by dirt ....

Just like the Talibans role models in Saudi.

It wasn't the Taliban that killed him.

The mastermind of the ambush that attacked his aid convoy was Amir Nawaz of the Theron-I-Taliban-Pakistan.

Tehrik…. Damn autocorrect.

You can whitewash a wall, but not a nation’s gratitude.

This is only the beginning.

Well, a good deal of posters on a previous thread with Japanese officials fleeing the country said it was good and that this was "not Japan's problem" will no doubt be pleased this man's legacy, which he felt was also very much Japan's problem, has now been erased.

Sad news but it's their country now.

Japan can try make good of them, don't let the works of Dr. Nakamura go to waste.

@ BeerDeliveryGuy

The TTP is not affialiated with the Taliban, in fact they go against each other since the TTP attacks chinese people in Pakistan.

Hmm, I wonder why would you blame the evil deeds of TTP on the Taliban.

Hmm, I wonder why would you blame the evil deeds of TTP on the Taliban.

I’m not blaming it on the current “new Taliban,” however, they are just rival factions of the same ideology.

Why do some people blame all conservatives for the white supremacists, or all black people for the gangbangers, or all chinese people for COVID and the CCP…

Places like this are best left to continue living in the stone ages.

Places like this are best left to continue living in the stone ages.

Well that’s the thing… Afghanistan was actually considered to be one of the more liberal and modern ME/CA countries in the 70’s.

The Taliban, although they adhere to a primitive religion, were the pioneers in incorporating IT in their terror operations. They have been using the Internet and social media for communication and recruiting, hacked cellphones for detonating IEDs, GPS beacons and SatCom phones before ISIS even existed.

@ BeerDeliveryGuy

You should make it clear it's not the same Taliban then. Strangely enough these guys are more funded by India/USA than the Taliban.

Beer delivery guy...

The mastermind of the ambush that attacked his aid convoy was Amir Nawaz of the Theron-I-Taliban-Pakistan.

If he was responsible, which is not at all sure. That would prove my point. His faction and what we call the Taliban have been fighting each other on and off for years.

In the west we have been fed 20 years of bad publicity on the Taliban. And to be sure, there is plenty of that to go around, however, the do have considerable support especially in the south.

They are Pashtun. The south of Afghanistan is Pashtun.

Kentarogaijin: "It's their country now.. Get over it.."

I don't see Nakamura's family blaming this on the US, nor are they saying, "get over it". Would you say that to their faces while proclaiming it's "not Japan's problem"?

BeerDeliveryGuy

The 70's? Well that's wonderfully progressive being that it's 2021 now and occupied by terrorists.

A mural in central Kabul dedicated to a Japanese doctor who devoted his life to drilling wells and other humanitarian work in Afghanistan before being gunned down in 2019 was recently erased.

Of course. Portraits, music, and dancing are all against strict islamic law. Did anybody think this doctor would fare better than the Bahmyan buddhas?