Shahroz Khan Chandio
War has ended……? No…!!! It has just started.
20 years of carpet bombing, atrocities and two trillion dollars depletion, Afghanistan is still there; where it started from, people being killed daily in suicide bombings and shadows of civil war roaming over Afghanistan. Taliban managed to get control of all over Afghanistan as this time tide was reversed and Taliban even have control over the strongest area Panjshir of northern alliance which was never controlled by invaders before. It happened primarily because of connections of northern alliance with United States that had left them weaker than before.
Point to think about this all situation is that if the purpose of incursion of Afghanistan was to castigate the culprits of 9/11 terrorist attacks in US, then the occupation would have finished decade ago when Usama Bin Ladin was killed by US Navy Seals in the city of Abottabad, Pakistan. We can only see one reason to prolong this occupation by NATO forces for another decade is that the occupation was geo-strategically imperative to contain the expanding sway of Russia and China and the only super power cannot watch the world starting to be multi-polar instead of uni-polar. But if US wants to contain Russia and China then question arises that why US had withdrawn all of its forces now and in such hurry.
One can give whatever reason for such occupation but the thing that always gets in rational mind is that it accentuate the complete destructive nature of capitalist imperialism. Today on 15th October 2021 when I am writing this article, a suicide blast in a Shia mosque killed many worshippers and the Taliban government had no answer to this onslaught. Their Special Forces group with their shiny guns in American uniforms comes, visits the place and leaves. No security is being provided to the Afghans even by the so called Badri 313 as well.
Those in west who think that Taliban are anti-imperialist national liberation movement are completely erroneous. Talibans are composed of same tribal and backward-looking counter revolutionary elements that were set in motion against revolution, when they were collectively calling themselves Mujahidins. Mujahidins were just a tag given to seven diverse jihadist associations. These mujahidins had not only different religious sects, ethnicity and other dogma indifferences but also had different foreign countries funding them. This was the major cause of civil war after Dr. Najib’s government. Hence the conflict between Taliban and Northern alliance in any kind is between national liberation and imperialism or between Progressive and reactionary forces. The co-operation between Taliban and US that Taliban would not attack US assets in return of Taliban government and Taliban also saying that they are open to any US and foreign investments in Afghanistan is another example of them being imperialistic instead of revolutionary.
Other powerful aspect at the back of Taliban takeover Afghanistan is the way in which Pakistan military perceives its security challenges. The Pakistan Military has only viewed that there is single major threat to existence of Pakistan i.e. from neighboring India. Since 1971 this view had strongly been reinforced. And as Pakistan military considers itself to be not only the guardian of the physical borders but also the guardian of ideological borders as well. This mentality has led the Progressives to consider Pakistan a security State. The Pakistan Military has always considered Afghanistan as area of strategic depth and since 1971 they have been meddling in Afghanistan’s internal affairs to bring about the regime which is “Pro PAKISTAN” so that in case of any inevitable war with India the military would have area strategic depth. That is why Islamic radicals received support from Pakistan and their relation switches back half century. Hence the victory of Taliban is seen as a victory of Pro Pakistan forces in Afghanistan. The Pro Indian “Northern Alliance ” is defeated and Pro Pakistan “Taliban” are victorious. For this reason we cannot regard this victory of Pro revolutionary movement. Taliban at the end will eventually end up being internally theocratic reactionary and externally allied to US, Just take an example of Saudi Arabia. For the leftist this is another major blow to them. Taliban’s victory has not only raised the hopes of other extremist groups but also Tehrek -e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which is still a major threat to Pakistan’s security. Moreover the calls of right for women and girls are not only naïve and ridiculous but also misplaced as Taliban has power in Afghanistan.
In short the images of Afghans clinging to air planes in hopes of escaping Taliban will forever be edged in the memories of the people of the region as the ignoble end of this occupation. And the way in which they dropped from those planes symbolizes the false hopes that capitalist imperialism always creates but betrays.
