Kristy Perano

PhD from @Cornell. Engineer. Rancher. Fighting to save US military interpreters from the Taliban.

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

Talked to a veteran today who said that he is only alive today because of his interpreter. Yet his interpreter has been denied for several years for "discretionary reasons." This is why all interpreters need to be evacuated, not just those who have almost finished their SIV.

[AG @AGHamilton29]

This is exactly why there is no choice but to destroy Hamas. There is no other acceptable option.

[Amrullah Saleh @AmrullahSaleh2]

The inter-active speech of caretaker prime minister of Pakistan Mr. Kakar with students in Lahore University of Management Sciences has several references to Afghanistan. His comments about history and the issue of refugees are too sensitive and too intrusive to be ignored. So, I take it as my patriotic responsibility to respond.
On matters of history: The prime minister tried to distance himself from his blood & ethnic identity by blaming King Yaqub Khan for signing the Gandomak treaty (May 1879) and thus selling the Pashtuns & their lands to the British. He implied that he is a son of faite acompli situation & therefore has been raised and tailored with more loyalty to Pakistan state structures than to humanity, ethnic kinship, historical ties & bonds. Mr. Prime Minister, ethnic groups can’t be sold. Lands under-feet of ethnic groups can’t be sold. It can only be occupied and occupation is always temporary. Let’s assume that your choice of words “sold out to the British for few rupees” is an articulation of an historical event in simple language. Can an occupying colonial army operating in the name of a company buy an ethnic group and their lands from a fleeing and dislodged King. You are the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan which only “Allah and Army” knows how long will last but your comments will go down in history as an insult to the very being and validity of your personal and ethnic identity. Don’t you think that in LUMS you sold your soul and insulted the history of your ethnic group for the position of caretaker prime minister. Although you spoke of Gandomak with disgust but you felt and seemed so proud that it happened and that you are more of Islamabadi than Abdali lets say. There was no remorse in your presentation on separations and divisions caused by the axe of colonial powers. One wonders which side of history are you in and with ? Are you with the the lowly traitor Yaqub Khan or with the dominant pro-rights awakening of today. Pakistani establishment caused so much death and destruction to make Kabul Pashtun enough through the Taliban and now you call on Pashtuns to find their roots in Karachi, KP and even slums of Lahore. What has gone wrong Mr. Kakar ? If you had confessed in LUMS that the army dominated foreign policy of Pakistan is the root cause of disgraceful situation both in Afghan and Pakistan, you would have risen above average and earned hearts and minds of people outside the GHQ.
On matter of refugees: Mr. Prime Minister, the heart of a Sindhi girl questioning the ethics and morality of the forceful eviction of refugees during the question-and-answer session in LUMS seemed much bigger than yours. Bravo to her. Had there been freedom after free expression in Pakistan she would have raised the real issue that these refugees were once upon a time means of Pakistan’s relevance in geopolitics, source of income and cheap recruitment for proxy conflicts and purposes. Let’s remember the 1980s . The KHAD, the intelligence service of the PDPA government had carried out over 1400+ blasts in Pakistan but yet Pakistan never raised the issue of the refugees. The refugees were called Muhajir in the land of Ansar and so on. Why? Because parallel with explosions you had a massive income from those refugees. Pakistan was relevant geopolitically because of those refugees. The question is who owes who. In your lecture in LUMS you sounded as if the Afghans owe you. It is quite the contrary, Mr. Prime Minister. You owe us and the debt can’t be paid with words. Although I know the deadline is expiring today and you are intent to forcefully expel the Afghans, let me remind you that it is impossible to de-Afghanize the Pakistani society. Literally impossible. Not physically but psychologically Gandomak has already been nullified.
On matters of GHQ’s relations with the Taliban: Some of the Taliban leaders run the largest property businesses, money exchange, hawala business, manufacturing and trucking businesses in Pakistan. I hear none of them are on the list of evictees. General Bajwa told me in person. I repeat. He told me in person. That Pakistan isn’t not hiding its relations and support to the Taliban. But want to make a clarification. The Taliban don’t use our army installations for command and control. They run businesses with dual purpose – earn money and fiancé the fight in Afghanistan. So who is responsible for this misery. A confession that you were wrong and that your wrongness costed 100,000s of innocent Afghan lives and degraded Pakistan will go a very long way. It will heal the wounds to some extent.
On my identity: I am A proud Afghan. Fighting the Taliban with pride and seeing them a direct threat to our culture, history, social fabric intra-ethnic harmony. Pakistan has created a messy strategic depth in my country and wants to re-attract attention & geopolitical relevance by targeting the most vulnerable Afghans residing in Pakistan. You are doing the wrong way once again. Think.

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

We are receiving reports at @AfghanEvac that the @GovtofPakistan is arresting children of #Afghans who fled to #Pakistan in order to try to force repatriation.

If true, this would be a gross violation of human rights and an affront to common decency.

[Sir William Browder KCMG @Billbrowder]

In Russia you utter a single negative work about Putin, you get 8 years of hard labor. But if you run around an airport looking for Jews to lynch, no problem.

[Janet Grabowski @janetcalif]

Listen to this maniac. He threatens a medieval religious war! He threatens Israel"we can come suddenly one night"-this is performative jihad. If he dared to attack Israel he would also have to contend with the US.Only wish US was as staunch any ally to Kurds as they are to Israel

[Seth Frantzman @sfrantzman]

Let's be honest here, this doesn't happen in an authoritarian state without the state's blessing, looks like someone at the top has given the message that now is the time. Very concerning.

[Alex Salvi @alexsalvinews]

BREAKING: Residents in Makhachkala in the Russian Republic of Dagestan have reportedly stormed an airport in the city in an attempt to attack any Jews who arrived on a flight from Tel Aviv.

The pilot of the flight is telling the crew not to open doors to the plane.

[Diliman Abdulkader @D_abdulkader]

Erdogan’s entire speech is a contradiction.

Turkey is a top jailer of journalists, academics, activists, opposition members. People go to jail in Turkey if they criticize Erdogan.

Erdogan is the enemy of freedom of speech.

[SIGAR @SIGARHQ]

(1/2) On June 7, Amnesty International published a report documenting instances of collective punishment by Taliban against citizens in Panjshir Province. Amnesty claims Taliban targeted & punished civilian population in an effort to combat National Resistance Front

[Lena Argiri @lenaargiri]

Breaking:@RepChrisPappas sent bipartisan letter to @SecBlinken asking him to take decisive action to hold Turkey accountable for its role in supporting and facilitating operations of Hamas/we urge you to demand that Turkey act against Hamas immediately and without equivocation/Turkey’s support for Hamas extend beyond rhetoric and has not received adequate attention from the USA

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

@EESA_M123 Glad he made it to the US!

[Rojava Information Center @RojavaIC]

AANES statement on Turkey's recent escalation in NES:

📌"[We are] insisting on the need to open an impartial and transparent investigation into Turkey's practices against our regions by specialized international committees."

📌"Turkey today is committing war crimes."

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

Why hasn't this been deleted already? Also how would Israel be responsible for allowing journalists into areas controlled by... Hamas.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Given how confident they are about who is to blame for the hospital deaths, Israeli authorities should allow foreign journalists & international war crimes investigators into Gaza to see for themselves; to gather evidence at the scene; to interview eyewitnesses.

And yet…

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

I guess after spending most of their humanitarian aid budget building rockets for the last several years they stockpiled quite a few.

[Daniella Greenbaum Davis @DGreenbaum]

Isn't it crazy that Gaza is running out of everything except... rockets?

[Daniella Greenbaum Davis @DGreenbaum]

Isn't it crazy that Gaza is running out of everything except... rockets?

[Diliman Abdulkader @D_abdulkader]

Why do you think Turkey is so involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Not because Turkey cares about Palestinians. But because Turkey wants to control Jerusalem. Believe it.

Turkey eyes Jerusalem. It wasn’t long ago when Erdogan declared “Jerusalem is our city.”

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

@MarshallLocke @StateDept Thanks!

[Nadine Maenza @nadinemaenza]

Does #NotATarget apply to everyone? Even #Turkey's airstrikes on Schools, Hospitals, Children & Civilians in NE #Syria? Or does @UN, US & internationally community give them a pass because they are afraid of offending them?

In the past weeks, Turkey's 200+ airstrikes have killed 48, including children & civilians, leaving 2 million without electricity & water. Schools are closed with over 40 hit in recent months. Where is the outrage for what the Geneva Convention lists as war crimes?

[Kristy Perano @KristyPerano]

@MarshallLocke The case I worked on for many years was recently denied because @StateDept literally didn't read it and didn't follow their own policies in evaluating it. Very frustrating and now we have to appeal despite thoroughly documenting everything the first time.