Handheld users: view this page better on http://m.socialistparty.org.uk
Archive article from The Socialist Issue 519
|
Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/2008/519/pp2538.htm |
|
|
Home | The Socialist 6 February 2008 | Join the Socialist Party
Bush and Brown's Afghan strategy lies in tatters"MAKE NO mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan." These are the words, not of an anti-war group but of the opening line of a report by think-tank The Atlantic Council of the United States. This report, which goes on to warn of Afghanistan becoming a "failed state," is just one of three released last week showing the US and UK strategy is in tatters. Tom BaldwinAnother by the US-based Afghanistan Study Group states the need to "rethink our economic and military strategies" while Oxfam warns of humanitarian disaster without a "major change of direction." These reports make uncomfortable reading for George Bush whose 2001 invasion was part of the 'neo-con' plan for American dominance of the region. Since then the position has become no better for ordinary Afghans, the majority of whom live in grinding poverty. Life expectancy in the country is just 46 years. Farmers have turned to opium production to try and support themselves and last year was estimated to be a record drug crop. Despite changes to the law the repression of women is still an everyday reality. Attempts to rebuild the country under NATO occupation are doomed to failure and Oxfam describe how "aid is wasted on very expensive consultants or on contractors who make quite significant profits." Under these conditions the support for the Taliban and other insurgents has been increasing. 2007 saw the highest number of Taliban attacks since 2002 and the deputy governor of the southern Helmand province (where most British troops are based) was killed in a recent bomb attack. The corruption and repression of the Karzai regime, along with the killings of civilians by western forces and the failure to bring about reconstruction, has provided fertile soil for the re-emergence of the Taliban. However the repressive forces of the Taliban offer no real answers to the needs of the Afghan people. The US and UK have now been calling for their NATO allies to devote more troops to the country but other governments are unwilling to commit more forces to an unpopular and unwinnable war. Germany has recently refused to redeploy troops and Canada has even pledged to withdraw its 2,500 soldiers next year if Nato doesn't send more support for them. However, even if more soldiers are sent, as in Iraq they will not be able to significantly improve security. Even the US-installed president Hamid Karzai recently criticised the inability of British forces to 'secure' Helmand province. Apparently, the beleaguered president wasn't even told of British plans to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on buying off Taliban fighters and training them to be local police. The occupation plays a divisive role; the Western powers are there to support their own interests and are not capable of improving people's lives. On the basis of continued occupation a 'failed state' and humanitarian disaster seem inevitable. Only the withdrawal of all occupying forces and a government of the working class and the poor, basing itself on a socialist programme, can meet the needs of a majority of Afghans. A united struggle to improve living standards can overcome division and allow the Afghan people to decide their own future.
Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan demoCalled by Stop The War CoalitionSaturday 15 March,Assemble 12 noon, Trafalgar Square, London.
Links 
Socialism Today is the monthly magazine of the Socialist Party
Corporate cash hoarders stunt growth
Click here for our youth and student pages - See also:
   Contact us Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777 Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206 Regional Socialist Party organisers: East Mids: 0116 223 0534 London: 020 8988 8786 North East: 0191 421 6230 North West 07769 611 320 South East: 07894 716 095 South West: 07759 796 478 Southern: 023 8057 5649 Wales: 02920 440571 West Mids: 02476 555 620 Yorkshire: 0114 264 6551 Members’ resources Marxism
Communism, grotesque caricature: see Soviet Union. See also What About Russia? Genuine communism: see Marxism, What is it? How would a socialist economy work?
Terrorism: Marxism Opposes Terrorism Books and Videos How a fightback can stop the cuts 
Online: Lessons from how Thatcher was defeated. This pamphlet outlines how we can stop the cuts Women and the Struggle for Socialism 
It doesn't have to be like this - What consequences will the economic crisis and its aftermath have for women? 
Online: The case for socialism in a period when capitalism is in deep crisis. By Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary 
The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815 by Peter Taaffe. New edition out now. 
Online: An essential read for anti-capitalists, trade union activists and socialists.
N30 - Millions strike back at Con-Dem government on 30 November 2011, photo Socialist Party 
Socialism 2011: Crucial preparation for the fightback Jarrow marchers march into history 
Jarrow marchers march into history 
Successful NSSN lobby called for a one day public sector strike 
Half a million trade unionists marched against the ConDem cuts in central London Day X student demo against fee rises 
9th December 2010: what the students said London firefighters second strike day 
Firefighters speak, as all firestations picketed Archive | |
Print this article
Google search the site
