U.S. offensive in Afghanistan
By G. Dunkel
Gen. Tommy Franks, the former top U.S. commander in
Afghanistan, has moved on to a higher-stakes war in Iraq. But
he leaves behind an occupation that grows more bloody as spring
makes travel in the Afghani mountains easier.
A few minutes after the bombs began falling on Baghdad, the
U.S. with some Romanian mercenaries opened up the largest
operation in a year against alleged Taliban supporters and
their al-Qaeda allies. The U.S. brigade of the 82nd Airborne
involved calls itself the "White Devils."
Why now? Perhaps for propaganda purposes, to create the
impression that Iraq is somehow connected to al-Qaeda and the
Taliban. The operation was billed as a response to a Taliban
attack on a border post that left three guards dead, and the
fact that three U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan came under
missile attack earlier in the week.
According to the U.S. command, it was a success. Some poor
Afghani farmers were arrested as Taliban sympathizers. The
soldiers seized some of the weapons every Afghani village needs
to defend itself.
But U.S. helicopters flying over Kabul, Afghanistan's
capital, still use flares to foil heat-seeking missiles. CNN
reported on March 23 that a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter was shot
down in eastern Afghanistan; six soldiers on it died.
The Afghan Islamic Press reported that a thousand people in
the western province of Largham demonstrated on March 22 to
protest the U.S. war on Iraq.
Reprinted from the April 3, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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