MoD hypocrisy on Taliban

THE GROWTH of a ‘resurgent’ Taliban in Afghanistan is bloodily
proving that the occupying forces can do nothing to solve the underlying
social and economic problems that the poor masses of the country face.
But a leaked report from Britain’s Ministry of Defence accused the ISI
(Pakistan’s intelligence service) of "indirectly backing terrorism by
supporting religious parties in the country".

Greg Maughan

This is gross hypocrisy on two counts. Firstly, as another section of
the report acknowledges, "the war in Iraq…has acted as a recruiting
sergeant for extremists across the Muslim world." The biggest factor in
the growth of right-wing political Islam and organisations which base
themselves on the methods of individual terrorism is the brutal and
bloody actions of US/UK imperialism across the Arab world.

But secondly, using the logic of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’, the
American state had played a role in helping the ISI to fund the Taliban!

In the 1980s, as part of its covert war against Soviet forces in
Afghanistan, the CIA printed tens of thousands of copies of the Koran.
Less benignly, the US also provided arms and funds for anti-Soviet
forces.

Most of the Taliban were students from the Madrasas (Islamic
religious schools) in Pakistan; the Pakistani government under Benazir
Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the ISI effectively created
the Taliban by providing money and arms. The US administration
indirectly supported this through contributions to Pakistan. With
Pakistani arms and logistical support, the Taliban was able to fill the
post-Stalinist vacuum in Afghanistan and captured Kabul in 1996.

Journalist Ahmed Rashid claims in his book Taliban: Islam, Oil and
the New Great Game in Central Asia: "The Clinton administration was
positively disposed towards the Taliban because they fitted into the
anti-Iranian policies of Washington and were important to the
possibilities of building oil pipelines from Central Asia without
passing through Iran."

As a result of US imperialism short-sightedly defending their
business interests, the seeds of 9/11 were sown.

These most recent criticisms of the ISI and the Pakistani government
have taken place whilst General Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, is
touring the US. Musharraf came to power through a military coup in 1999
and oversees a country where workers now have fewer rights than they did
in 1947 when independence from British imperialism was secured!

Musharraf is a friend of capitalism and has done as many favours for
US imperialism as possible, whilst leaning on different layers of
Pakistani society to secure continued support.

This has brought him into conflict with elements of the Pakistan
state, including at times the ISI whose regional interests have been at
odds with those of US imperialism. It is unclear how long this balancing
act will be able to go on.

There is probably some truth in the MoD’s claims. However, complete
compliance with the will of US imperialism on the part of the ISI
wouldn’t solve anything.

Neither sectarian religious groupings nor foreign military forces can
do anything to solve the problems faced by the working class and poor
masses in Pakistan, Afghanistan and across the Middle East. Only the
independent organisation of the Arab masses, with the working class at
its head, can offer a way out of the cycle of war, poverty and
exploitation that capitalism means for the majority.