Fri Mar 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

A ‘Second Front’ Has Reopened for Imperialism

Afghanistan

This is a reproduction of the main part of an article published in the IWL web site (www.litci.org)  on the 7/6/06


 


(?) Strong impact caused by TV images showing how a sector of the population of Kabul, capital and main city of the country, confronted heavily armed troops by means of stones and sticks?, they attacked embassies and offices of the UNO, government buildings and police premises to the cry ?Death to the Americans?, ?Death to Karzai? (head of the government). American soldiers shot at the crowd and produced at least 14 deaths and dozens of injured. It all began when a detachment of American armoured cars opened their way though the city traffic, collided with several civilian cars and killed five people. The response to that was a veritable popular uprising.


 


A little bit of history


The Kabul events do not constitute an isolated case but expresses a change in the situation of the country (?) In 2001, during the first military action? declared by Bush after the 11S raids, imperialist troops invaded the country and, in a swift military victory, defeated the Taliban regime?  hated by a great sector of the population. In several cities, the invaders were received as liberators for the Talibans persecuted the minorities and exerted a great social and cultural oppression. After their defeat, remaining Taliban forces withdrew to the mountainous regions bordering with Pakistan and began with specific action against the puppet government and the foreign troops.


 


The real profile of the occupation


The initial support offered by the population started wearing off as the fraud of the promised ?foreign support?, works and investments became evident. The state the schools, hospitals, etc are in is pitiful and most of the ?works? were nothing but a means to enrich imperialist companies under contract.


The weight of the occupation even created a UNO-administered ?parallel economy? in the great cities (?) were a tiny minority of foreign officials, many of them connected to NGOs and their Afghan employees earn much more than all the other Afghans and coexist with the squalor of the vast majority.


On the other hand, the Karzai administration remained supported by the USA troops and their imperialist allies, but they never really controlled the country. In order to hold the so much-advertised ?democratic? elections, they negotiated with he ?lords of the war? and maintained the support of their troops. These agreements allowed these ?lords? to maintain control of their regions and local institutions? and to operate freely in their criminal activities, particularly dealing in opium. The government limited itself to staying in the capital and, through these agreements, precariously administer the country.


 


A change in the situation


After nearly 5 years of occupation, the country, imperialist troops and the puppet Karzai government are in a qualitatively different situation. The experience with the occupation made more and more sectors of the population turn against the occupation.


The change in the feelings of the population in these last months opened a space for a new resistance where various groups confront the occupants and the puppet government. Today there already exist entire zones where the government does not trespass and occupying troops only go if either there is a major military operation or they attack from air and are unable to station troops permanently. Journalist speak about ?liberated zones? in the provinces of Paktia, Khost and Zabul in south and southeast of the country where control has always been precarious, and in Helmand, strategic area of the country, where attacks have recently accrued and the Karzai administration may have lost effective control.


The increase of the resistance comes together with the recovery of the prestige by the Taliban leaders because they, right from the beginning , they have always been against the occupation. But it is important to say that resistance is not limited to them: a coordination between different tribes ad wings has started functioning and, not being Talibans, they are joining the armed struggle against the invaders, For example: Gulbudin Hekmatiar, former ally of Iran and a leader of the guerrilla against the occupation by the former USSR in the 1980s. This leader was a minister in the Karzai administration, he split away from him and declared to be against the occupation.


The Kabul events show a deepening of this process for the capital has so far been the only place in the country where the government and the occupation forces seemed to have some firm control.


 


The awesome ?second front?


That is very bad news for Bush and imperialism as a whole: the ?second military front? they feared so much is opening in the region? barging against Bush?s policy who has been trying to find a way of sending some of the American troops back home transferring the weight of the occupation on to the shoulders of European imperialists through NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). The plan was that Germany, England and Spain should take over. For example, Zapatero, just to show that the forced withdrawal of the Spanish troops from Iraq under the pressure of massive demonstrations that shook his country by no means spelled his forsaking the interimperialist front with USA, sent troops to Afghanistan.


This policy of Bush?s in need to concentrate on Iraq now collides with the deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan. As a sample of his concern about this new situation, John Hamre, director of the academic Centre of Strategic and International Studies told the New York Times: ?What is happening in Afghanistan is the dormant crisis of the boreal summer?, and he added? Some American officials are concerned about the possibility of getting entangled to a prolonged battle while the control is slipping out of the hands of the central government?. This situation might mean the impossibility of reducing the figure of the 20 000 American soldiers and replacing them by troops from other NATO countries, according to Washington officials. (?)


This new snarl-up of imperialism and its institutions spell ?good news? for the workers and the nations of the world. The possibility of a military defeat of imperialism in Afghanistan and Iraq is posed with growing force. We, the revolutionaries, without granting the least confidence or political support in their leaders ? let us remember that many of them have been allies of the USA ? we support without the Afghan resistance most stoutly in order to drive out of the country the invading troops and the institutions of imperialism ? be they American, European or ?world? ? an to pull down the puppet Karzai administration.         

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