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EDITORIAL

Hands off Pakistan, Afghanistan & Iraq!

Published Oct 16, 2008 9:47 PM

The Bush/Pentagon war regime is escalating its brutal occupation of Afghanistan and expanding the conflict to Pakistan—and both the Republican and Democratic parties are giving their backing to this new phase of U.S. aggression.

Bush announced in September that he was deploying an additional 4,500 troops to Afghanistan. The news from that country is that the resistance to the occupation forces already there has been growing; the population has turned strongly against them and against the “government” of Hamid Karzai, who is scornfully referred to not as president of the country but as mayor of the city of Kabul.

The Karzai regime was imposed on Afghanistan by the foreign imperialist invaders, who have tried unsuccessfully to clothe it in the figleaf of “democracy.” Karzai was chosen by the U.S. because he used to be a consultant for Unocal, an energy company with interests in the oil and gas of the region.

In northwest Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan, nearly 190,000 people have fled the area since government forces launched an offensive against “militants.” (United Nations report, Oct. 14)

This Pakistani offensive comes after repeated demands from Washington that Islamabad “crack down on insurgents.” When the Pakistani government, feeling enormous resistance from its own population, didn’t jump far enough and fast enough for the U.S., the Pentagon forced the issue by invading Pakistan’s territory, both from the air and on the ground. U.S. planes have bombed villages in Pakistan; pilotless drones have delivered deadly bombs and provided reconnaissance for attacking ground and air forces.

The current Pakistani offensive, which is having such a terrible effect on the people of the area, forcing them from their homes just before winter sets in, is the direct result of this U.S. pressure.

Pakistan has a long, tortured history with regard to U.S. imperialism. For decades during the Cold War, the U.S. sponsored and armed military dictators there who could be counted on as allies in the struggle against the Soviet Union.

In recent years, however, as Washington’s war in Iraq created anguish and hostility throughout the Muslim world, public opinion in Pakistan turned decisively against Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the latest in the long line of military men who came to power through coups.

Musharraf had Washington’s support during most of his reign, but even he would not unleash his military against the rebellious people of the northwest regions to the extent the U.S. wanted. He feared the popular reaction that would provoke.

As the movement for democracy grew in Pakistan with thousands of protests, strikes and the defection of most of the country’s judges and lawyers, Musharraf cracked down with mass arrests and disappearances. But he was forced out in the last election.

The civilian government now in power is weak in relation to the U.S. In ordering the northwest offensive, it is trying to placate Washington. At the same time, Pakistani military officials and the new president have denounced the incursions by U.S. forces into Pakistan and are vowing to defend their country’s sovereignty.

They have to say it. The Pakistani people are furious at being dragged into Washington’s war against the Afghan resistance. There was a huge outcry when, in early September, a U.S. helicopter attack on a Pakistani village bordering Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 20 civilians, including children, women and men. That was followed by missile attacks and a ground assault by U.S. forces invading Pakistan from their bases in Afghanistan.

At the same time, bombs have been set off in several Pakistani cities, and the U.S. is using that as justification for its campaign against “terrorists.” But the people don’t see it that way. Even the Associated Press admitted that “Many Pakistanis blame the violence on their country’s support for U.S. policy in its pursuit of al-Qaida and the Taliban.” (Oct. 14).

No amount of soldiers or firepower will make the imperialists “win” in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. These are imperialist wars against oppressed nations where the resistance by the people to being taken over by the “West” is growing daily.

As the capitalist economic crisis grows more severe, and everything but the military budget is slashed in order to bail out the profiteering bankers, these wars will be resisted even more by the people in the U.S. It’s important for the antiwar movement to demand that U.S. troops be withdrawn from all these countries, that the machinery for aggression be dismantled, and that the Pentagon budget be converted into social funds to meet the needs of the people for jobs, housing, education and health care.