The U.S. is losing its grip on Afghanistan—so says the chief of its occupying forces, General Stanley McChrystal, in his warning to Congress that if troop levels in Afghanistan are not greatly increased then defeat is assured. After the political calculations are made, President Obama is expected to escalate the number of troops by as many as 40,000.
These thousands of additional troops are intended to compensate for the drastic loss of political support that the U.S. occupation has suffered among Afghanis. Some two-thirds of Afghan territory has already fallen under the control of the Taliban, including areas of the north that had, until recently, been loyal to the U.S.-sponsored Karzai regime. Now that same client-regime, already regarded by many Afghanis as a clique of bandits, is widely believed to have stolen the presidential election with the consent of the Pentagon.
Prior to the uproar over election fraud, evidence of a failing occupation in Afghanistan was already visible. Even in areas ruled by the Karzai regime, only 40 percent of the population cast a vote in the presidential elections. And in the Pashtun south, where the Taliban is predominant, the absentee-rate was 90 percent. No amount of new foreign troops can restore the confidence of the Afghani people in this government or the occupying army that installed it. Under these circumstances, stability can only mean indiscriminate bloodshed.
The renewed emphasis on military force made August the bloodiest month of the occupation, with fifty-one American soldiers killed. As a result, the latest polls show that less than 50 percent of Americans support the war and 65 percent oppose its escalation.
So-called patriots who try to belittle public opposition to the Afghan war as defacto support for Taliban rule are distorting the bigger issues in dispute. Afghanistan is considered by the Pentagon to be a military pivot for policing U.S. energy interests in the region between the Middle East and Caspian Sea. It is located at the center of the most contested area of the globe – sharing borders with Iran, Pakistan, China and the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
With the placement of forward military bases in Afghanistan the U.S. would enjoy greater influence over the delivery of oil and natural gas to markets in Europe and
Asia. In the short term, control of Afghanistan would permit the U.S. to more aggressively pursue war with neighboring Iran. Defense Secretary Gates, in a flashback to the Iraq invasion, accused Iran on September 27 of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. In the long term, the U.S. would pose a challenge to Russian and Chinese interests in the region, sharpening the political rivalry with these two world powers.
This is not a war for freedom, democracy, national security, or women’s rights. It
is not a war against terrorism. It is a war for oil and profit that is waged at the cost of millions of lives and more than a trillion dollars, money that is being diverted from the social crisis at home. It is a war without any principle save that of plunder. It is a war that must end immediately.
We have a chance to intervene in this deadly and criminal escalation of war on the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia by joining thousands in the streets of Boston for an antiwar march and rally on October 17. Boston will be one of thirty cities across the U.S. to protest the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, to oppose military strikes on Pakistan and Iran, and to demand an end to U.S. support for the Israeli/Egyptian blockade of Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The Trinity Antiwar Coalition is organizing transportation to the march and rally in
Boston. To reserve a seat please contact Denisa Jashari at denisa.jashari@trincoll.edu or visit www.ctup.8k.com for more information.
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