Afghanistan – NATO troops face a resurgent Taliban

THE RECENT horrors in Lebanon and the ongoing quagmire for the
occupying forces in Iraq have pushed the war in Afghanistan out of the
main news headlines. Yet the situation is bloodier in Afghanistan than
it has been in the five years since the overthrow of the Taliban regime.
This is underlined by the deaths of nine British servicemen killed in
the 25 major clashes with Taliban guerrillas after taking over command
in Helmand province in May this year.

Steve Score

The US army claims to have killed 600 ‘suspected Taliban fighters’
during July in advance of handing over control to NATO forces in the
southern provinces.

It says 1,700 people in total have died since the beginning of the
year in the ongoing war. UK troop levels have been increased as part of
this NATO force, to around 5,000.

Of course the phrase ‘suspected Taliban fighters’ is a telling one.
How many of these are civilian deaths is hard to say, but as the BBC
correspondent in Helmand province said:

"The overused phrase ‘winning hearts and minds’ is bandied about as a
key objective, but bombing the infrastructure – the schools, hospitals,
shops and houses – is not going to win the support of local people."

The plans of the US and British governments have gone badly awry in
Afghanistan. Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, the invasion of
Afghanistan was supposed to destroy al-Qa’ida and the Taliban regime
that was harbouring them.

They then planned to ‘reconstruct’ the economy and install a stable
pro-Western ‘democracy’. In reality it was part of the US plan to
reassert the world power of imperialism, the next step being the removal
of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Ironically Muslim ‘radicals’, including Bin Laden, had originally
been funded and supported by the US in the war against Russian
occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

After their crushing by the occupying forces in 2001 it appeared that
the Taliban were finished. However, as we pointed out in Socialism
Today, February 2002: "So long as the conditions which turn people
towards movements like the Taliban exist, there will always be more
recruits.

"The failure of ‘modernisation’ on the Western capitalist model,
extreme poverty, lack of education and healthcare, and especially the
humiliation of domination by rich foreign powers, will continue to push
strata of the population towards ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, or more
accurately right-wing, Islamic parties and movements."

Five years after bringing down the Taliban regime, al-Qa’ida still
exists, the Taliban are resurgent, Afghans still live in crushing
poverty and the Kabul government controls very little of the country.

Even in Kabul, a glimpse of the disillusionment and anger at the
occupying US forces can be seen in the riots and demonstrations
involving thousands of people that took place in May after a road
accident caused by a speeding US convoy. Reportedly troops fired on the
crowd afterwards. Local people believe the arrogance of US forces is
reflected in the recklessness with which they drive through crowded
streets and this adds to the feeling of being let down by unfulfilled
promises of economic help.

The BBC quoted one Kabul resident as saying: "There is a lot of
poverty and a lot of problems with unemployment – I am not happy with
the way the aid money is given out."

Five years of occupation and supposed ‘reconstruction’, Afghanistan
has one of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, life
expectancy is 46 years, and one child in four dies before the age of
five. National income per head is officially only $204 a year. That
rises to $330 if you include the opium trade, now an estimated one-third
of the economy.

Since the removal of the Taliban regime the production of opium has
rocketed, and with it huge problems of corruption of officials and
weakening control by government. 70% of the population depends on
agriculture, and the destitution of farmers has inevitably led to the
growth in production of poppies as the only way to get the money to feed
their families.

In contrast to the lack of investment by Western donors, according to
journalist Ahmed Rashid: "Drug smugglers and cartels now offer greater
incentives to Pashtun farmers than aid agencies… opium traffickers
provide improved varieties of poppy seeds, fertiliser, improved methods
of cultivation, banking and loan facilities and organise large scale
employment during the poppy harvest."

The provincial governors, police chiefs and administrators relied on
around the country by the Hamid Karzai government have been the warlords
utilised by the US in their war against the Taliban.

The Pashtun warlords loyal to Karzai in the southern provinces, where
the Taliban are mainly based, have been involved in the drugs trade and
discredited as being openly corrupt, further undermining support for the
government.

After more than five years of fighting there appears no immediate end
to the turmoil. At a time when the US is increasing its numbers of
troops in Iraq despite its professed aim to do the opposite, there seems
no "exit strategy" in Afghanistan either with the increased NATO
deployment there.

Capitalism has no solutions for the people of Afghanistan; the only
hope lies in the building of socialism there and internationally. An
independent working class movement needs to be built which can offer a
way out of extreme poverty and constant war for the masses both in the
cities and towns and in the countryside.