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.
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