Volume 3, No. 3-4, March-April 2002

The man was picked up by the Bonn Conference of brigand powers sponsored by the UN to lead Afghanistan after the demise of the Taliban. He was little known till then and was leading a life of obscurity as an exile in Pakistan. His Pushtun background earned him the position of chairman of the Afghan Council for an interim period of six months so that the former ethnic Tajik President Burhanudin Rabbani, who till then was recognised by the UN as the lawful President of Afghanistan but was considered too close to Iran, be bundled out alongwith the ouster of the Talibani regime.Rabbani never expected that he will be so soon kicked out after the end of the Talibani rule against which he had spearheaded the fight for five long years. The new situation arising out of the turbulent oil resources of Central Asia demanded a change of the guard. Rabbani had outlived his usefulness. The new player in the game detested Rabbani’s connections with Russia and Iran. The ‘international coalition’ to secure the rich resources of raw materials was being led by the US and if ex-king Zahir Shah could not be reached as a consensus candidate another man of American choice was to have the chance. The choice fell on Karzai and he was catapulted to assume the role desired by the US and acceded to by other main collaborators of the US. Neighbourer Pakistan could not protest as the man was a Pushtun and a resident of the land, and also, he was not a part of the Northern Alliance coterie. Though most of the other ministers belonged to this coteric but that was the word from the master who had coined a new phrase : "either---or---" India accepted because it could not do otherwise, despite the fact that all along it had been saying that Northern Alliance headed by Rabbani should rule post-Taliban Afghanistan. Moreover, most of the foot soldiers of NA were to be there and it was quite a satisfaction for India.

The Bonn Conference that was held in last December went on for a week far surpassing the two-day slated time because much of the opposition from Rabbani was to be ‘amicably’ tackled, course for the future chartered, a governing body that may not fall apart as in 1992 ensured and, if need be, a ‘peace keeping force’ drawn from international mercenary regimes raised to intervene in case "warlordism" again comes to spoil the game for oil and hunt for Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden. Ongoings of the conference were reported to the press, especially, those concerning the "independence" and "sovereignity" of the new regime. Hamid Karzai was first reported to be a bitter opponent of the international peace keeping force. Then he softened up a little that this proposal can be considered. Another day and he acceded to the proposal but ‘emphatically’ said that it will be only allowed for three months and the world was told that the main hurdle to a peace force to "help" the interim govt. was "hopefully cleared", though Hamid only "allowed" it to stay within the confines of Kabul city. And after spending a few days in Kabul he learnt that warlordism is coming back in the form of securing governorships for the provinces. Moreover, the Talibani and Al-Qaeda leadership was still elluding and could mar his chances to hold on to the power for at least till the completion of his six-month tenure, if not longer. It dawned on him that he needed the international force more than anyone else as he did not have his own soldiers like Fahim Massud and Rashid Dostum to control the belligerent opposing groups. So when he reached the United States, having met Bush and his team, he begged the UN Security Council that it "authorise an extension and expansion of the mandate" of the "peace keaping forces".

Transition is being effected from foot soldiers to pawn politicians who will knock at their master’s doors every now and then. This transition is all around, in every field.

Hamid Karzai had asked the US to stop the bombing campaign in Afghanistan when more than a hundered civilians were killed in a village in the usually "missed target" fashion. Then he regretted the killings. But on the fourth day of the killings he said the bombing was necessary and "it should continue", that "innocents do die in a war". He is trying to be more forthright (or brazen!) than his masters who either say "it was a mistaken identity", or "the target missed" or "it was not deliberate".

The US ruling class who had cried hoarse at innocent casualities at the time of WTC attacks have remained tight lipped over their barbaric bombing of prisoners of war in the Jhangi Fort near Mazar-e-Sharif where more than 400 prisoners were killed. While the US missiles rained death from the skies for three days its’ foot soldiers of the Northern Alliance spilled petrol in one of the prison cells and lit the fire killing the unarmed prisoners who were holed up there. The US and NA marauders committed this heinous act inspite of protests from various organisations the world over including the western human rights groups. The massacre of prisoners at Quila Jhangi was unprovoked, unwarranted and a gross violation of the rules of war. But the NA defended the barbaric operation at Jhangi Fort as necessity because, it alleged, the prisoners had "risen up in a rebellion". The claim as to the happening of a rebellion in the Quila was never confirmed. It is quite unlikely that the men who had surrendered just a couple of days ago in Mazar-e-Sharif would rise in a rebellion in so short a time and especially when there was no scope of any help from the outside or any chance of an escape. The US and NA had outrightly rejected an independent investigation into the prison massacre. Later the US President Bush took the position that the Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters taken prisoners are not POWs but outright criminals. This, the butcher Bush, insisted in spite of his Secretary of State Colin Powell’s opposition. Powell, though an ex-General and notorious for his Gulf War and now Afghan War crimes, was positing like a military man while Bush is emerging as a fascist ideologue like Hitler. And now, Karzai, the chosen pawn politician, is praising the Bush administration with the words that it "should continue its humanitarian mission" in Afghanistan.

The US ‘humanitarian mission’ which started "humanising" Afghanistan with thousands of unaccounted civilian killings is going to engulf various countries, nations and peoples. Accompanied with international gagging of the independent press, in this so-called age of "free flow of information" through refusing access at the very source of information and strangulating civil and democratic liberties at home by pouncing upon radio, television and internet networks and legally bugging of all mails and telephone talk, encouraging every citizen to spy upon the other in the name of the defence of national interests of America and the Americans, the US has successfully tested its war capabilities through widespread destruction and devastation. in Afghanistan. The loanes and crumbs Karzai and his team of pawn politicians are to get through the Tokyo donor’s meet has further dragged them down the stinking trench of tail wagging statesmanship which is described as "good governance" in the post cold-war era of the US dominated globalisation. The US and its international community of thugs has asked the new Afghan rulers to acquire the certificate of good governors for Afghanistan so that they get their wages as a reward from the billions of dollars which are going to be extracted from the Black Sea and the Central Asian highlands. As first installment of the "share" in would-be-profits the US, Japan and EU, alongwith Saudi Arabia, have pledged them 2.2 billion dollars for two years, which will be further divided into mini-installments and disbursed only if they behave like obedient dogs.

The 2.2 billion "aid" package is tied to the Bonn agreement which make it contingent on Afghanistan that "the unity of Afghanistan is a must" and all the different parties making up the united front (previously NA) must contribute positively for "establishing peace, representative governance and stability" along with "elimination of terrorism, narcotics production and trafficking". Without stability in Afghanistan it would not be possible to exploit the Central Asian oil and the donors do not want to waste their money on a devastated country for nothing if they don’t get a share in the loot of trillions. The "aid" thus, is a highly profitable investment and it can go up to $20 billion in ten years time if the peaceful flow of oil is ensured through Afghanistan. The "reconstruction of Afghanistan" means the laying down of the pipeline and other infrastructures for this purpose. This is a long cherished dream of the US and other imperialist sharks and which had gone haywire in 1992 and then in 1996 when neither the NA nor the Taliban could secure the stability despite bloody military campaigns against one another and each against all others. It is an irony of history that Russia is almost ousted from this "reconstruction" effort and has not much to offer (and get) in the big deal. It prevented the Taliban from taking full control of the country by funding the low intensity war waged by its ex-rivals the NA, as a result, thwarting the US’ plans to strike a deal with the Taliban through Unocal. But the US war on Afghanistan has changed all that now and the stability is being sought and secured through the very same war lords, who were once Russia’s foot soldiers and then once again became mercenaries for the US. There is nothing strange in this over-crossing and crossing-over game.

Stability and "reconstruction" are the two pillars on which the edifice of oil exploitation will stand. Stability through war and reconstruction through bribing the political establishment. Finance minister of the interim Afghan administration, Amin Arsala has warned his colleagues that if the new Afghan leadership fails to fulfill the Bonn conditions the (bribes) will stop and nothing will be ‘rebuilt’. He has thanked the imperialists for their ‘generosity’. For the leaders of a poor country like Afghanistan if 15-20 billion dollars come in a span of ten years the deal is not bad. They are happy to not mind about the trillions the imperialists will earn. After all, they will only be providing a pipe line for oil transit and defend it with the heads of their poor people who, otherwise, have no price in the international money market. So, why bother if thousands have died during the merciless US attacks! Quite on the opposite, they are ready to be trained by the US military advisors to push out the rivals if they ever try to raise their head again, or if the people come out to protest against the imperialist penetration and stranglehold.

Karzai and his associates want the US army and the "peace keeping force" to stay longer and everywhere in Afghanistan to maintain the stability. But the US treats the foot soldiers as foot soldiers and has refused to do the peace keeping for the purpose of which it has secured more foot soldiers from 17 other poor countries under the banner of the UN. The US will only maintain a limited but strategic presence, train a new Afghan National Army (with India collaborating) as it has promised to "stand by Afghanistan’s poverty stricken people". They have granted Karzai his wish to not to "abandon the people of Afghanistan".

The people of the world are being told that the aid money will be spent on education (especially that of the girls as this was projected as one of the biggest problems under the Taliban), health, rehabilitation and food. A few millions are earmarked for all this while the rest will go to build the infrastructural facilities and military build up. This latter aspect is the primary and overwhelming aspect which will have nothing to do with the uplift of the people as has been the case in most of the imperialist aided and capitalist developmental projects all over the Third World. This will not bring out the people of Afghanistan from "disaster, war, brutality and deprivation" as the imperialists and their agent Karzai are drumming aloud.

For the purpose of political stability the Bonn agreement called for convening a Loya Jirga (the great tribal council of Afghanistan) "that will decide" the future political leadership in Afghanistan till a parliament is convened within two years. The Bonn conference nominated the "interim government" with Karzai as its head, Karzai has nominated the Loya Jirga convening body of 21 hand picked members, the 21 member body will convene the Loya Jirga on June 21 with ex-king Zahir Shah also as an invitee. The whole process at the tribal council will be monitored by the imperialist agents so that all independent voices of local chiefs are silenced through bribe/threat or by whatever means that are called for by the circumstances. An East Timor is being enacted in Afghanistan with a transitional structure decided by the ‘generous’ ‘world war lords’. Karzai announced the formation of the convening body in the presence of Kofi Annan in late Jan. No doubt, there will be a big struggle among the feudal chieftains and the war lords. Big guns lke notorious Rashid Dostum and Fahim Masood are already made deputy defense minister and defense ministers respectively. Even discredited Hikamatyar too is trying to become part of the establishment. Rabbani is hopelessly out and the ex-king is trying to stage a comeback with the US help. Meanwhile everybody is busy to score points as political big shots. Old foot soldiers have doned civil dresses and are touring various countries. 20 billion dollar gift bonanza is alluring everyone. Peace may not come that easily and the donors are already a bit skeptical. Time and again the foot soldiers, who are being told to abide by the Bonn agreement, look towards the Tokyo dangling. Bank rolling of the politician and administration has started filling the pockets of past mafia lords with a few local skirmishes bursting here and there among them.

On the whole, the transition is going to be relatively smooth this time as US army and "peace keepers" are maintaining a strong presence and it is likely to multiply in the coming days. The US has declared that Central Asia falls in the sphere of its "national interests". This is the way of saying that it intends to permanently stay in Afghanistan. The Central Asian operation is already under the Central Command of the US armed forces. Afghanistan has been secured as a launchpad for US thurst into Central Asia. It is being converted into a new satellite US state, may be like Saudi Arabia or South Korea. Threats to Iran are being renewed and reinvented. It is bad for the people of the region where US military presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan is being further strengthened. The US ambition had much more to achieve than the ouster of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. Their real objective has just started getting transformed into reality. The US has secured pawns in Afghanistan. The (world) king is planning its next moves on the Central Asian chess board keeping a close watch on the flanks (Iran, Pakistan) and is planning to move onto the Black Sea heartland. Japan and EU have become its strategic partners in the region while the Russian Czar has run into precarious and defensive positions.

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