Afghanistan Under Intense US Pressure

The Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan is under intense pressure from the US and other imperialist countries. They want the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to stop fighting against the forces of Ahmad Shah Masood and handover Osama bin Laden to the USA. Laden, who is assisting Islamic guerrillas in other countries to build an International Islamic movement against the Western domination of cultural values and wants the US to stop supporting the Royal family of Saudi Arabia, is staying in Afghanistan. The present regimes in Central Asia, which have come into existence in the wake of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, also feel threatened by these guerrilla forces for which it is easy to get support in these Muslim countries. Many regions in the Caucasus, which are presently part of the Russian Federation, want to come out of the clutches of the corrupt capitalist rulers of Russia and want to establish their independent states . The populations of these regions are also predominantly Muslim and hence, are easily attracted to the ideologies of these forces, which inculcate in them a sense of divine liberation and also support them socially and economically in a number of ways. The liberation forces in Kashmir are also being assisted by the Islamic forces. In this way, almost the whole of Central Asia is seething with the rise of religious Islamic forces. In this situation, Afghanistan has acquired a special significance for the whole region as Islamic forces are entrenched there in the form of the Talibani regime.

The hold of the Taliban forces on Afghanistan has earned it the "notoriety" of a state which "supports international terrorism." All the major powers of the world are pitted against Afghanistan as all the permanent members of the UN Security Council have supported the US move to impose sanctions upon it. Today, the State of Afghanistan has become a victim of international imperialism, inspite of the fact that it is a creation of the very same forces which are now up against it. We don’t have to go into details here that how the US, its Western imperialist allies — Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and others — have contributed to the emergence of this state and how Russia, India and others under the ex-revisionist empire have been blatantly interfering in the internal affairs of this country. This Afghan State has been a continuous victim of these countries which are now bent upon isolating it and making it yield to their pressures.

The US, Russia and India are especially active against it because of Osama bin Laden, Chechnya and Kashmir. In September 1999, after the Moscow blasts, leaders of 15 Asian countries together with the US, sat together in a Conference for Interaction and Confidence Building, in Almaty, Kazakhastan. This conference was a desperate move on the part of Russia and many others to contain the growing influence of Islamic forces which are threatening to dismantle or disrupt regimes in many participating countries. Most of the participating countries lacked mutual confidence and were beset with "mistrust and conflict" as is the rule among the regimes that are built on exploitation and oppression. But all seemed terrified at the prospect of militant islam taking them over and considered it as a spillover from the ongoing civil war in Afghanistan where the Taliban controls most of the territory and is a sanctuary for various militant organisations. All the participants were in agreement with the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s observation that "the situation in Asia today is volatile" where various countries suffer from "mistrust and conflict." Hence, the measures for confidence building!

It has always been the practice of strong reactionary states to try to snatch or control new natural resources and markets wherever possible giving rise to "cross-border" interferences in one way or the other. Those who struggle to overthrow the oppressive regimes also find allies in other countries. In the present context it has come to be termed as "cross-border terrorism" when the forces are either waging a militant struggle for genuine liberation or are trying to unseat their rivals to occupy the seats of power and are helped from the outside. The basic problem for these countries is to contain/control/destroy the internal "hostile" forces and cut off their external links, although the regimes themselves want to collaborate with international reaction to suppress their own people. While talking about terrorism they themselves resort to terror and force ‘internal peace’ through the force of arms. But this "internal peace" sometimes explodes, as in Palestine or Kashmir or Chechnya whenever it becomes impossible to control the conflicting forces within bounds.

Threatened with the ever increasing problem of insurgency in Kashmir the Indian Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Kamlesh Sharma said, "Afghanistan has become a breeding ground for international terrorism." While speaking about Afghanistan and the Taliban he did not remind the world that India too had the distinction of supporting Russian crimes in Afghanistan and was, in fact, partly responsible for the present state of afrairs in that country and stands to be condemned for its past behaviour. When the people of Afghanistan were fighting for liberation from the Russian oppressors India was a staunch supporter of their enemy — the Soviet social imperialists — and contributed to enhance the sufferings of the Afghanistanis.

When Boris Yeltsin talked of "terrorism emanating from Afghanistan" he did not tell the world that he himself was supplying armaments to Ahmad Shah Masood to destabilise the Govermnent in Kabul. When the states unleash their terror machines to keep the peoples in subjugation they don’t mention the truth that there is a national question involved. India carries on its policy of forcibly keeping Kashmir within India while it accuses Pakistan and Afghanistan of "cross-border terrorism." Liberation struggles in Chechnya and Kashmir have common political enemies in the regimes of Russia, India and the US. Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh writes to Moscow, "terrorism has to be combated forcefully." The US supports Russia in destroying the freedom fighters while warns it on excessive "civil casualties" in its bid to win over the sympathies of the Chechens. Russia answers, "the authorities will respond appropriately, harshly, rapidly, and decisively to the bandits." India does likewise in Kashmir and fingers of terrorism are pointed towards others.

To get its hands on Osama bin Laden the US accuses the Taliban of "barbarism" and of pushing Afghanistan into the "dark ages." But the US doesn’t tell us that it had financed the "obscurantist forces" for years on end during and after the Russian occupation forces in its bid to create a comprador class which would serve the interests of Western imperialism after coming to power; that American and Saudi money ran numerous Madarssas in Pakistan where "religious fanatics" were trained and armed; that its own geopolitics in the region was responsible for the rise of "barbarism", which is now creating difficulties for furthering that very politics.

Islamic Regimes : Succumbing to American Pressure

In most of the Arab world the US has been successful in pushing governments to control the Islamic militias. One after the other Arab governments, being dependent on the West, have moved to crush the "fundamentalist forces". The history of the reactionary Arab governments is replete with episodes where they have moved against anti-imperialist forces of different ideological convictions. The Islamic resurgence happens everywhere, time and again, as a result of strong religious-cultural roots, abject poverty of the people and inability of the governments to root out exploitation and the cultural onslaught by imperialism. The people rise to seek ways out but often rally behind the strongly entrenched clergy. The Islamic forces, trying to make Central Asia as their new bastion are under strong attack from various quarters. Russia, as well as the West, despite their rivalry in controlling the natural resources in Central Asia have a common point in the liquidation of the Islamic forces. The US is now concentrating its attack on Afghanistan, utilising terror strikes, diplomacy, sanctions and especially through the Government of Pakistan. Historically, though Islam has been a major factor in uniting the people in their struggle against the oppressors yet the governments established after the end of direct colonial rule have exhibited strong tendencies to cave in under imperialist pressure due to their class nature. Only the road to socialism could have put an end to the continued imperialist intervention and endless misery of the people against which they had to rise up time and again.

The present wave of condemnation of Talibani barbarism glosses over the reality that it was right there before the Taliban captured power in 1996. It was there when the now deposed president Burhanuddin Rabbani was in power. Even before, in the mujahideen held areas where shariat was the law as the mujahideen interpreted it. It was a common knowledge that women were not allowed to go to the schools, to have education. The present noise about dark ages, barbarism and the veils was not there. Throughout the factional war years opposing armies were molesting each other’s women folk, forcing veils, closing schools, reviving medieval customs but the world was not told about these stories. The West and its media knew all this but its political interests wished otherwise. Now, when the Taliban has started resisting Westem dictates everthing is being dug up and propagated to malign it and to force it to bow down. If and when the Taliban bows down these stories will disappear from the world media and praise of the Taliban will replace it. We don’t hear about the same medievalism, dark ages and barbarity in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries as they willingly work according to the strategic interests of the West in the Middle-East. Here too kings and princes lord it over the lives of the people, and these countries are in no better condition than those of the Taliban controlled Afghanistan. One may remember the stoning to death of a princess in Saudi Arabia in the not too distant past. One can then imagine the conditions of the general women folk there. The ‘veil, the barbarism, the dark ages’, are all there as well. The only difference is that there is no significant opposition to US interests. And the US and the West do not speak about them. Such is the hypocrisy of the imperialists and the sold out mediamen.

When the West needs to malign the rulers of a country it unleashes all its forces including the UN. Then everyone starts speaking the same language. When the UN special Reporter on Violence Against Women, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswaini, toured the Taliban-held and Burhanuddin Rabbani-held areas in September ’99, she reported back to the UN that there "are women beatings, veils and prostitution in Kabul" and that the Rabbani held areas were a bit better where "girls go to schools." Ms.Coomaraswami brought out already known facts and a demand to exert pressure on Afghanistan to stop oppression on women and abolish the "misogynist" Ministry of vice and virtue. The world already knows about these facts and condemn anti-women laws and institutions. What the world wants to know is why all this is being raked up now and was not taken up before? Moreover, all these things are present in the Gulf kingdoms too. Why is the West silent about them? Again, wife-beatings and prostitution are present everywhere in the world from New York to Paris to Moscow to Tokyo and to Bangkok to Delhi to ... all the cities of the world and not only Kabul. Will those who accuse the Taliban of violating the rights of women put all the governments of the world in the dock and punish them? Will the men and women who are in the payroll of the UN dare pass judgement over them? No, they will not. ‘The international conununity’ can’t put itself in the dock. It cannot be said that it is all because of the evil of the veil in Afghanistan. The veil is there in many countries and no punishment is suggested for them . Moreover, the veil is a part of the culture of the people there as it is not in other countries. The people have been living under feudalism in these societies for thousands of years and are still in those conditions. The same is true for all of the Gulf countries. People cannot be punished for their traditions and customs and no external force can compel them to change their way of life. It only comes with internal anti-feudal movements and through enormous changes in the relations of production. This transformation is almost absent in the whole of the Muslim world. Imposition of an external value system upon a society naturally gives rise to strong opposition from among the people. The real culprit there is feudalism and not the veil or other evils. All the noise about the veil, the beatings, the prostitution, unveils the hypocrisy and double standards of the West and the UN while dealing with a weak nation.

Neither the West nor the UN are concerned with the conditions of women. Their real purpose is to pressurise Afghanistan to make it work according to the strategic interests of the West. The US representative to the UN, Ms Nancy Soderberg, had clarified the US intentions in the Security Council on August 30, ’99, in these words: "if, in defiance of the Security Council resolutions, the Taliban fails to end their protection of terrorists, the international community should bring increasing and certain pressure to bear on them." This real purpose was shrouded in the lengthy talk about women’s rights in Afghanistan. The US is not averse to recognising the Taliban provided the leaders of the Taliban ‘respect their people’!

For them, neither beatings nor prostitution nor the veil is the problem. The pressure on Afghanistan will decrease when it starts cooperating. Already, the US has stated that the $ 2 million aid it has given to Afghanistan, despite sanctions, for the upliftment of the women "is bringing results." The statement is to sound the Taliban that the US listens when the Taliban expresses its willingness to talk over the Bin Laden issue. The Taliban has softened a little from its previous "no negotiations over Laden" stand. Now the Taliban says that it is ready to seek alternative solutions on the Bin Laden issue but the US wants the Taliban to ensure that it severs all its links from the "fundamentalist’ forces operating in Central Asia and other parts of the globe. Till then, the women in Afghanistan will continue to get ‘publicity’ for their "deplorable conditions" in the world media. The US has frozen $ 500 million of the Afghanistan Airlines in the US banks and "provided" $ 2 million to show its ‘generosity’ towards the Afghani women! The carrot and the stick work side by side. General Musharraf too has been pressed into service to serve this purpose. He has asked the Taliban to close down guerrilla training centers and to initiate negotiations with the ‘international community’.

So far, the Taliban has resisted the surrender of Osama bin Laden to the US inspite of enormous pressures; though, of late, it has shown signs of yielding to this pressure. The Taliban, in spite of strong fundamentalist roots, is unlikely to hold on for a long time given the state of its economy and dependence on the West and with no alternative planning for the economic development of the country which could have given it the strength to resist the imperialist pressures. The economic sanctions and international isolation due to the UN sponsorship of US efforts, and with no alternative forces to ally with, it will have to abandon or considerably decrease its support for the Muslim guerrillas as the rulers of other Muslim nations have done in the past. The Saudi Arabian and Pakistani connections of the Taliban movement and the US’s own influence in Afghanistan’s Taliban and mujahideen forces are major levers along with the isolation enforced through sanctions. For the US, fundamentalism is okay as far as it serves its interests but when Osama style heretics emerge to threaten it and hit at its interests it bares its fangs.