Afghanistan-Another Iraq: Towards A Solution

So early in this mission O’Connor has already called for more troops and more equipment. One almost gets the impression O’Connor is winging it-the ad-lib school of warfare. To supply the required troops there is now an extensive recruiting program. This might also be a poll on how many young Canadians are willing to be cannon fodder for some Yankee cowboy flying around in his A-10 Warthog looking for handy targets- most recently one dead Canuck and thirty wounded. One major problem with Afghanistan is that it is a war being fought twice. Immediately after 9/11 the US attacked Afghanistan with the intention of capturing key Al Queda leaders, especially Osama Bin Laden. But the attack was started with massive B-52 bombing which allowed Bin Laden and others to escape into Pakistan, where to the best of our knowledge he is still hiding out. Had the US sent in ground troops at the outset and cut off the escape routes the Al Queda movement might have been effectively decapitated. The US then enlisted the Northern Alliance, a group of drug lords, to drive out the Taliban. But this job was left unfinished as US forces were diverted to the invasion of Iraq- democracy does not happen in a day or looking down the barrel of a gun. The Taliban became resurgent and the job had to begin all over again. By this time though, the US was tied up in Iraq and desperately short of troops. NATO was then drawn in to supply the required troops but also as a public relations ploy to give the impression that this was a NATO undertaking. NATO though is no more than a US proxy and the US is still very much running the show. What is overwhelmingly wrong with this Afghan mission goes back to Iraq. When a super power under takes serial warfare as has the US, the first war in the series had better have a good outcome. Otherwise, successive wars are going to be a hard sell and that is just what we are seeing. The situation in Iraq is worse than ever. Iraqi deaths are now higher than ever and the US seems paralyzed as to what to do other than let the situation degenerate until the warring factions fight to a stand still. The US would like to withdraw, leaving behind a shattered country, thousands of dead Iraqi’s, a landscape pillaged and dusted with tons of depleted uranium. The US though has achieved its purposes in seizing Iraqi oil, establishing a string of permanent military bases within the country and building its Mideast “Vatican”- a huge embassy complex outside Baghdad which will act as an outpost to The Empire. For all practical purposes Iraq is no longer a country but a series of tribal enclaves bent on each others destruction while the US military looks on as spectator to the destruction it has wrought. It is little wonder that a growing number of Canadians oppose the Afghan mission. As the fortunes of Iraq spiral downward it can be rightly concluded Afghanistan is going to suffer a similar fate. Similarly, other NATO countries are hesitant to get involved; especially when NATO commanders already in Afghanistan are being quite candid about the difficulty of the mission. One senior British officer has resigned in disgust after serving there. Though they are not stating it out right a lot of these countries are tacitly suggesting: Why should they have to clean up America’s mess? The shortage of troops has been a persistent problem in Iraq and now in Afghanistan Afghanistan has been labeled a “failed state.” This is mainly because it has been the object of imperialist affections and machinations for the past several decades. Both the former USSR and the USA have helped to insure the country is in a constant state of war. Even when Afghanistan did establish a progressive stable government in the 1970’s the CIA decided it was not acceptable and arranged for its overthrow An aspect of this war that mocks common sense is that both war and rehabilitation are being undertaken at the same time. War is anarchy. Rehabilitation requires peace, order and continuity. Germany could not be rebuilt until it was defeated. Japan could not be rebuilt until it was defeated. The same applies to Afghanistan. The country cannot effectively be rebuilt until peace prevails. There is every reason to suspect the only reason rehabilitation is being pursued during the conflict is to placate the war’s critics. An Afghanistan MP, Malalai Joya visiting Canada is quoted in the Vancouver Sun: If Canadians want to prove themselves as real friends of the Afghan people, they must act independently... They [NATO] continued the policy of the US and our people don’t agree with US policy and this is why there [are] no positive results right now. Joya and Layton point in the direction of a solution. For Afghanistan to move toward a peaceful stability the US cannot be involved. It is overly committed to a heavy-handed militaristic solution. Its motives for being in Afghanistan are self-serving. As long as the US is involved the Taliban are not going to give up the fight. One of the first rules of conflict resolution is to separate the warring factions. The second is to establish arbitration. A critical first step towards solving the Afghanistan conflict is an immediate ceasefire. Secondly, it becomes a protectorate of the United Nations. Thirdly, not only should Canadian forces withdraw there must be a complete withdrawal of all Western forces; especially the US as it was the original aggressor. Fourthly, the insertion of a non-Western UN peacekeeping force (UN peace keeping still has its place, especially when those who conduct war do it so incompetently) drawn from countries more neutral and more trusted than Western countries. The provisional government must negotiate with the Taliban to address essential issues. Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, must be prepared to step down as he is seen by many as an American stooge. There must be the recognition that Afghanistan is not being liberated. It is simply being plundered but one more time. If we really want to be a friend to the Afghan nation we will insist on an immediate disengagement and an international arbitration under the auspices of the UN. It must be recognized the US is primarily interested in Afghanistan as a strategic outpost (as with Iraq). Spreading democracy globally is merely a ploy for its neo-imperialist ambitions. The United Nations must seize the initiative from the US and quit bending to the American will and the subversions of John Bolton, US Ambassador to the UN, whose ambition is to destroy the world body. The world’s other major nations; especially members of the UN Security Council, are going to have to act in solidarity and insist the UN has the primary role in this and subsequent conflict resolutions. It is clear raucous and debilitating militarism is not the solution in Afghanistan and the onus is on leaders internationally to come up with an effective solution- a solution that might necessarily shatter the present status quo. Jack Layton is clearly on the right track. What he suggests is an essential first step-a big and courageous first step-down a long road of conflicting and very powerful interests. Attitudes must change, and tyrannies be eradicated. Unless we invigorate international rule of law, effective international mediation, more equitable balances of power and stand-up to malignant intimidations the worst is yet to come. For Layton and others of this persuasion now is the time to start advancing proactive solutions to muzzle the dogs of war.