“THE ENEMY doesn’t value human life”, said George Bush when launching his “war against terrorism”. Neither it seems do his troops after they bombed and blasted a collection of villages in Afghanistan killing up to 250 civilians.
According to press reports the Afghans were celebrating a wedding, now they’re burying their dead.
The US authorities have said ‘sorry’ but this isn’t the first occasion since ousting the Taliban regime that innocent Afghans (and for that matter their own troops and other coalition forces) have been blown apart by US ‘friendly fire’.
Meanwhile, the ‘interim’ Afghan regime led by pro-Bush stooge Hamid Karzai is presiding over a motley collection of corrupt and violent warlords. Far from bringing peace and stability to this war-torn country, ethnic wars are raging in the north resulting in horrific acts against civilians, while in the southern Pashtun-dominated areas warlords regularly bombard each other and indulge in banditry and extortion.
Millions remain ‘internally displaced’ and aid agencies report continuing food shortages and few resources to reconstruct destroyed towns and villages. Pledges of international aid from Western donor countries have largely failed to materialise.
As The Socialist has repeatedly argued, Bush’s “war against terrorism” is all about promoting imperialism’s strategic aims, not liberating the poor and oppressed.
