[NYTr] The West in Afghanistan: Six Years of "Operation Enduring Freedom"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

New Socialist - Fall, 2007
http://www.newsocialist.org/index.php?id=1442

The West in Afghanistan: Six Years of “Operation Enduring Freedom”

By Hamayon Rastgar

On October 7, 2001, the US imperialists and its allies launched a
military onslaught to invade and occupy Afghanistan. Arguing that this
war constituted the best example of a just war, the imperialists and
its ideologues widely publicized the plight of suffering Afghan women
under the yoke of misogyny, and the theocratic and brutal rule of
Taliban. The politicians in Washington promised liberation. In the
words of Arundhathi Roy, it seemed as if the US marines were on a
feminist mission. Many liberal and colonial feminists were deluded by
this liberation of women rhetoric and lent their support to Bush’s war,
invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

In the attempt to construct ideological justification for the war, the
contemporary history of Afghanistan was distorted; numerous lies and
half-lies were constructed. The relationship between the US
imperialists and Islamic fundamentalists and their rise to power in
Afghanistan was systematically covered up.

A short glimpse at Afghanistan’s contemporary history, though, suggests
that Afghanistan turned into a heaven for Islamic extremists in
accordance with the wishes of the US imperialists and as a result of US
support for political Islamists, including the Taliban. The modern day
Taliban, Osama Bin-Laden, and Al-Qaida are the making of the US
imperialists’ policies regarding the Muslim-majority-countries.
However, the US imperialists this time around uses the “war against
Islamic terrorism” to further their imperialist agenda and enhance the
US supremacy in a vital geopolitical region in Asia.

Nonetheless, and partly because of the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, the ruling classes of the Western countries and of most of
the world forced or willingly rallied behind this imperialist war. Le
Monde, the prominent French newspaper captured the mood of the time by
saying “we are all Americans.”

Nevertheless, when the US and its allies declared “Operation Enduring
Freedom”, the code name for the first phase of their permanent war on
terrorism, they also promised that democracy, women’s rights, human
rights, and the reconstruction of a war ravaged Afghanistan would
accompany the invasion and occupation of the country.

The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was completed in October and
November of 2001. The reconstruction that the US and its allies
undertook in Afghanistan was that of creating a modern colonial state
to serve the geopolitical interests of the US imperialists and to use
Afghanistan as a launching pad for dominating the region. Particularly,
the US had an eye on the oil rich region of Caspian Sea. To reach such
resources, Afghanistan is being used as a doorway. Thus the political
and economic ‘reconstruction’ in Afghanistan was used solely for the
purpose of reaching that imperialist objective which lies beyond the
borders of Afghanistan. In other words, to use Afghanistan as a doorway
to the oil of the Caspian Sea and also as military base to enhance the
US supremacy in the region over that of potential rivals.

Upon occupying Afghanistan, the first action of the imperialists was to
create a puppet government to serve their interests. Beginning with
Bonn conference in Germany, they brought together a group of
reactionary political forces—forces representing the parasitic ruling
classes of Afghanistan—in order to form a puppet government dependent
on the occupying powers for its security, financing and survival. Hamid
Karzai, an ex-Taliban-associate, was selected by the US officials to
serve as the chief of that puppet government. Furthermore, they
manufactured a sham election to buy legitimacy for the puppet
government, and declared their project of democracy complete. Now the
occupying powers can claim that they are in Afghanistan at the request
of the “democratically elected” Afghan government.

To call this government democratic is a cruel joke in terms of the
concept of democracy and the people of Afghanistan. A country lacking
sovereignty, and a nation without the right to self-determination—a
nation under the boots of occupying forces—can never have democracy.
Afghanistan is a country under imperialist occupation; the sovereignty
in Afghanistan does not lie with the people of Afghanistan but is the
sovereignty of the occupying powers, especially the US imperialists’
military and non-military officials in Kabul. The Karzai-led puppet
government is representing the US imperialists’ interests and not the
interests of the people of Afghanistan.

Since the imperialist powers do not have direct and immediate economic
incentives in Afghanistan yet, they do not bother with any kind of
economic reconstruction. They are looking to Afghanistan as a route to
other places. The limited reconstruction is mainly focused on military
facilities and the facilitation of the occupation. The occupiers, for
example, have built the Kabul-Kandahar highway, which they need for
moving their troops around the country. They have also attempted to
increase the capacity of airports in Afghanistan for military purposes.

The aid money coming into the country has turned into a huge source of
wealth for foreign and domestic carpetbaggers. Usually the aid donor
countries are spending their aid through their own Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs). There are a sizeable number of foreign NGO
workers in Afghanistan who are making huge sums of money, some of them
thousands of dollars a day; a big chunk of the aid money is being spent
on the salaries, security, and lavish lifestyle of these aid workers. A
small fraction of money that actually makes it to the ground evaporates
through corruption, patronage, and dubious contracts. Thus, the aid
does not change the lives of the masses of people, and does not buy
their “hearts and minds”, but results in wrath and resentment. An
article in a small handwritten paper, Handwritten News Paper in the Age
of Internet (the literal translation of the name from Dari) published
in the Daikundi Province of Afghanistan, captures this reality and the
perception of the aid workers in the eyes of the populace. This article
asks, “What is UNO [United Nations Organization]?” and the answer: “UNO
is an international organization, whose members drive big white cars
and comes in the summer to Daikundi to drink cold water from the
mountains and return back to Kabul before it is winter.”

Six years after the occupation the living conditions of ordinary people
throughout Afghanistan have further deteriorated. The most important
problem confronting the people is widespread poverty and unemployment.
Inflation, extremely low wages, unemployment, hunger, and a complete
lack of infrastructure and basic necessities are haunting the wretched
masses of Afghanistan. The imperialist powers and the puppet regime
cannot only decrease people’s miseries, but they are the number one
factor behind people’s miseries and poverty. The presence of a large
number of foreign NGO workers, carpetbaggers, and others has caused
inflation and jacked-up the prices of everything. The average rent of a
three-room mud house, for example, is $300 per month, and the wage of a
teacher is less then a $100 per month. The corruption and parasitic
nature of the puppet regime is also a prime factor for the increasing
misery of the people. Powerful politicians and bureaucrats in the
regime not only have their hands in the pocket of the poor for
extortions and bribery but are also, in a very systematic manner,
taking away land, houses, and property from the population. Poor
people’s homes, slums and shops are being bulldozed to make place for
villas, complexes and shopping malls for the rich.

The lives of the peasantry are even more miserable. Either they have
been directly effected by the war, and their livelihoods are being
destroyed under the bombing and war efforts of the occupying troops, or
they are victims of wide spread poverty, lack of food and resources;
moreover, they are exploited by the super-exploitation and extortions
at the hands of the ruling classes tied to the puppet regime.

The handicrafts businesses are under attack from the cheap imports of
consumer goods from wealthier countries. Previous men and women who
work in these handicrafts businesses are swelling the ranks of the
unemployed. This is why those workers who can afford to leave are
fleeing the country in search of jobs in neighboring countries. Iran is
a popular destination for many, and yet the Iranian government has a
hostile policy towards Afghan migrant workers. This year alone the
Iranian government has expelled fifty thousand workers. And now the
Iranians have put a $600 price on their visa, a huge sum of money for
that part of the world. This fact alone speaks volumes about the
situation in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, the women of Afghanistan, contrary to the war’s promises,
have not been liberated. The current puppet regime is as misogynistic
and patriarchal as the previous Taliban government. The constitution of
this puppet regime is also based on sharia law, which definitely does
not consider men and women as equal. Violence, lack or resources,
poverty, and sexual harassment at the hands of government mercenaries
with guns, along with centuries of feudal-patriarchal practices, are
making the lives of women in Afghanistan hellish. The puppet government
is the upholder and enforcer of all these patriarchal and misogynistic
practices. And the occupying powers are propping-up such a government.

Due to the falling standard of living and broken promises resentment
towards the puppet government and the occupying forces is growing.
Resistance in different forms and shape is increasing across the
country and the Taliban is exploiting this situation in its favour. Due
to this resentment and resistance, the Taliban has succeeded in
eliminating the control of the puppet government and the occupying
troops in vast areas of several provinces. Now it controls huge swaths
of land in Paktika, Zabul, Qandahar, Oruzgan, Helmand, Farah, Ghazni,
and Kapisa, and is increasingly able to launch military operations even
inside Kabul.

Therefore, the occupying forces have clearly lost the war of “hearts
and minds.” The puppet regime has no credibility and legitimacy in
terms of the concrete reality in Afghanistan. The political
developments over the past six years indicate that they are unable to
resolve the crisis in their favour. The brutality and the viciousness
of the war will amplify the longer the occupation continues, and this
will definitely increase people’s resentment and generate new recruits
for the resistance.

For the good of the Afghan people this occupation should end sooner
rather than later. What, then, is the alternative? This question is on
the mind of many people in regard to Afghanistan and is a question of
global importance. What is the alternative to the bullying of
imperialists, wars of conquests and the looming dangers to the whole of
humanity? Political Islamists of different varieties are posing as
anti-imperialists and claim to offer alternatives. But it should be
clear that this alternative not only is unable to break the chains of
imperialism but leads to a theocratic servitude. The main factor behind
the crisis of current conjunctures is the weakness of the revolutionary
left forces, which allows the Islamists to pose as standing up to
imperialists.

If the occupying forces in Afghanistan were to be defeated by the
reactionary Islamists forces, there will not be genuine liberation. The
Taliban at best would change the direct colonial occupation with
indirect semi-colonial domination. The Taliban, like the current puppet
regime, does not have any long-term structural plans or the capacity
for solving the underlying problems that are facing the people of
Afghanistan.

However, there are revolutionary and political organizations in
Afghanistan that could offer a progressive alternative, and the
political landscape has the potential of turning in their favour. The
peoples’ resentment towards the puppet government and the occupation
grows daily. The Taliban has serious limitations at mobilizing all the
people in Afghanistan and can never gain a foothold amongst the
non-Pashtun nationalities—nationalities who form well over sixty
percent of the population in the country. Neither can the Taliban
mobilize the women in Afghanistan. Thus, the only possible social base
of the Taliban is male Pashtuns, despite the fact that many of male
Pashtuns are not happy with the misogynist, national chauvinist, and
the theocratic nature of Taliban. Therefore, only democratic,
internationalist, secular, pro-women’s rights and progressive politics
can mobilize all the peoples of Afghanistan against the occupying
imperialist powers and their puppet regime. The revolutionary left is
the only candidate that can offer such an alternative. If such a change
occurs in the equation of the current war, the occupying forces will be
placed in an even more difficult situation. It would be significantly
difficult for them to fight a war against a political force with a
progressive social and political agenda; which would further
delegitimize the ideology of the occupation being “progressive”. At the
same time, such a development would seriously weaken Taliban who are
now claiming a monopoly over the war of resistance.

The left in Afghanistan have been waging a political struggle against
the occupation over the past six years. They have talked of preparing
for a “national revolutionary peoples war of resistance.” It remains to
be seen if they actually succeed in offering a progressive political
alternative. There is no doubt, since this struggle is an international
struggle against imperialism, that progressive anti-imperialist
movements and individuals worldwide should extend their support and
solidarity to the left in Afghanistan.

[Hamayon Rastgar is an Afghan-Canadian and a member of
Afghanistan-Canada Research Group (ACRG). He traveled to Afghanistan,
along with Mike Skinner also a member of ACRG, in the summer of 2007
and spent three months in the country doing research.]