Afghanistan: the days of colonial occupation are numbered

The following is from the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist):

Afghanistan: the days of colonial occupation are numbered
Inter-imperialist contradictions are being forced into the open by heroic forces of patriotic resistance.

No sooner had the polls closed in Afghanistan on 20 August than the leading representatives of the occupation regime declared this electoral farce a success. Nato’s Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, praised the Afghan people’s determination to build democracy, while the leaders of the US, Britain, Germany and France – the main participants in the imperialist predatory war against the Afghan people – rushed to pat themselves on the back for facilitating this alleged exercise in democracy.

Afghan ‘Election’: No solution to the problem of occupation

The following is from the British anti-imperialist journal, Lalkar:

The charade that passed for a presidential and provincial election in Afghanistan was staged on Thursday 20th August 2009. According to the information released by the occupation forces and the puppet Karzai regime, 40 candidates contested for the presidency, whilst 3,180 stood in the election for provincial councils. According to the same sources, of the 17 million Afghans eligible to vote, 5 million allegedly did so, that is, just under 30 per cent of the electorate entitled to vote. The resistance for its part has claimed that the actual turnout was less than 10 per cent. This not withstanding the deals that the Karzai authorities had done with some local sections of the resistance for a ceasefire on the polling day.

U.S. Out of Afghanistan

The following statement is by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization:

Speaking at a news conference on May 5, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, “The main effort in our strategic focus from a military perspective must now shift to Afghanistan.”

With these words, Mullen has condemned the people of Afghanistan to suffer more misery, oppression, and poverty – as if eight long years of occupation were not enough.

On 6th Anniversary of Iraq War More than 10,000 march on Pentagon

The following is from A.N.S.W.E.R.

A “throng of war protesters swelled Saturday as they marched across the Memorial Bridge.” (AP) The protesters marched on the Pentagon and what followed was a dramatic direct action at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and KBR, corporations that demonstrators labeled “merchants of death.” The predominantly young crowd continued to grow as the day proceeded. They marched through the Pentagon north Parking Lot and then into downtown Crystal City, where the leading war corporations’ headquarters are located.

Afghanistan: A Study Guide for Anti-Imperialists

What follows is sort of an annotated list of readings that should help anti-war and anti-intervention activists understand the U.S. war and occupation of Afghanistan from an anti-imperialist point of view. I may add to this as time goes on.

• “Stop U.S. War in Afghanistan and the Middle East” by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization
  Important statement from September 29, 2001
• “U.S. Out of Afghanistan” by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization
  Statement from May 2009
• “Oil, War, and Afghanistan” by the Emergency Committee Against U.S. Intervention in Afghanistan
  Great analysis from late 2001 at the beginning of the war.
• Obama committed to a hopeless imperialist cause in Afghanistan from Lalkar
  Analysis from Marxist-Leninists in the U.K. of the current state of the occupation
• “U.S. Escalates War in Afghanistan: Obama orders 17,000 Troops to Afghanistan” by Kosta Harlan
  Excellent analysis of the situation in Afghanistan now.
• “U.S. Occupation Faltering in Afghanistan” by Kosta Harlan
  Excellent analysis of the situation in Afghanistan now.
• “Afghanistan: Another Massacre” by Kosta Harlan
  Gives a good explaination of exactly what U.S./NATO occupation forces are doing these days in Afghanistan.
• “Afghan ‘Election’: No Solution to the Problem of Occupation” from Lalkar
  A Marxist-Leninist look at the August 2009 ‘elections’ to occupied Afghanistan’s puppet government.
• “Afghanistan: Mirage of the Good War” by Tariq Ali
  A good exposure of the social-chauvinist ‘good war’ line that has duped some sections of the anti-war movement since 2001
• “On the Military Situation of the Taliban and other Islamic Anti-Government Forces” by the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
  Gives a good look at the balance of forces on the ground in the present U.S./NATO war in Afghanistan.
• “Afghanistan, Another Untold Story” by Michael Parenti
  This is a good analysis of the Cold War dynamics from which the current situation in Afghanistan arose.

Michael Parenti: Afghanistan, Another Untold Story

The following article is form Marxism-Leninism Today:

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan

Afghanistan, Another Untold Story

by Michael Parenti

Barack Obama is on record as advocating a military escalation in Afghanistan. Before sinking any deeper into that quagmire, we might do well to learn something about recent Afghan history and the role played by the United States.

Less than a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, US leaders began an all-out aerial assault upon Afghanistan, the country purportedly harboring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist organization. More than twenty years earlier, in 1980, the United States intervened to stop a Soviet “invasion” of that country. Even some leading progressive writers, who normally take a more critical view of US policy abroad, treated the US intervention against the Soviet-supported government as “a good thing.” The actual story is not such a good thing.

U.S. Occupation Faltering in Afghanistan

The following article by Kosta Harlan is from Fight Back! News:

2009 started off poorly for U.S. and NATO forces occupying Afghanistan. Shortly after the U.S. military invaded and occupied Afghanistan in October 2001, Fight Back! reported, “No one wants their country occupied by foreign powers. So, the people of Afghanistan will mount a resistance. Its scope and power remain to be seen, but it will certainly be a factor.” (Afghanistan Occupied, New Targets Ahead, Winter 2002, Fight Back!)

It is now safe to say that the resistance to the occupation has become the decisive factor in the Afghanistan war. A powerful resistance movement, with broad support from the people of Afghanistan, controls 72% of Afghanistan and carries out heavy or substantial activity in 93% of the country (The Struggle for Kabul: The Taliban Advance, International Council on Security and Development, December 2008). U.S. and NATO troops no longer control events in the country. It is resistance forces that decide when, where and how to engage in combat with the occupier.

Afghanistan: The occupiers’ new strategy – intensify the occupation

The following is from A World To Win News Service:

26 January 2009. A World to Win News Service. The occupiers of Afghanistan, led by the U.S., have announced that they will present their new strategy soon. While they may not reveal all the elements of their strategy, some aspects are apparent in what they are already doing.

Afghanistan: NATO on course to certain defeat

The following article is from Lalkar:

US imperialism has decided to go for a ‘surge’ in Afghanistan, increasing its troops there by over 20,000 over the next few months.  The first batch, about 3,500 to 4,000 troops from the Third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, New York, are scheduled to arrive next month, with the remainder arriving over the following 18 months. This is nothing more nor less than Barack Obama promised to do when elected President – i.e., to withdraw (partially) from Iraq in order to focus on Afghanistan, and on Pakistan as well.

Afghanistan: Another Massacre

The following article is from Fight Back! News Service:

Afghanistan: Another Massacre

By Kosta Harlan

Another massacre by occupation forces in Afghanistan unfolded on Dec. 12 in the central province of Wardak. U.S. military forces on a foot patrol opened fire on an approaching bus, killing four civilians and wounding at least ten others, according to Halim Fidai, the governor of Wardak Province. The killings are the latest in a string of massacres that have led to increased Afghan anger at the occupation.

Afghan Maoists: On the military situation of the Taleban and other Islamic anti-government forces

The following article analyzing the different forces involved in the war in Afghanistan is from A World To Win News Service:

1 December 2008. A World to Win News Service. Following are edited excerpts from issue no. 19 (July 2008) of Shola Jawid, organ of the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan. The explanations in parentheses are by AWTWNS.
 
The Taleban made little use of guerrilla methods in their war against the “Islamic Interim State of Afghanistan” headed by Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Massood (the warlord regime that came to power after the fall of the pro-Soviet regime in 1992 and eventually fell to the Taleban in 1996). For the most part their offensives took the form of conventional warfare.