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Twenty years of U.S. bombing and occupation have killed 241,000 men, women, and children. Thousands more have been maimed for life. Nearly 6 million Afghans had been driven from their homes by the U.S. puppet government. U.S. banks and Afghan officials have profited enormously from the vast opium fields guarded by U.S. troops. $2.26 trillion has been looted from the U.S. treasury to enrich oil companies and war profiteering corporations. This money could have been used for jobs, fighting climate destruction, fires, pandemics, and providing education, housing, and healthcare for all.
Have we workers in the U.S. gained from this bloodshed? No! This was a rich man’s war.
U.S. policy in Afghanistan is motivated by a drive to control mining, energy resources, transportation, and the opium trade in the region. Now that the Taliban has taken over the government, they may drive a harder bargain for a U.S. cut of profits than the puppet government that preceded them, but the U.S. Taliban negotiations that have been underway since Trump’s term will continue under Biden.
Biden and politicians now cry crocodile tears for the Afghan people after funding and training the original Taliban forces. State sanctioned slavery, torture, and the brutal oppression of women have not affected close ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, from which the Taliban draws much of its funding. From Syria to Afghanistan to Xinjiang to Colombia, the U.S. arms and funds ISIS or other right-wing death squads wherever they served to bring about or maintain domination by U.S. financial interests. Did the occupation and destruction of Libya bring any benefit to the Libyan people who once had free education, healthcare, housing, and borders open to immigrants? No, the people are impoverished, enslaved, and controlled by warlords each vying to be the favorite of the U.S. government.
Without Popular Support, U.S. Puppets in Afghanistan Fell Quickly
It took just a few weeks for the Taliban to take control of Afghanistan. Why didn’t Afghans rally to defend “their” government from advancing Taliban fighters? Because the corruption of the puppet government was plain for all to see. As U.S. troops withdrew, former President Ashraf Ghani and his cronies fled the country with suitcases of cash. Meanwhile, 90% of Afghans live in poverty. Afghans are painfully aware that the now-deposed government was only propped up to protect the profits of U.S. investors in gas pipelines, mines, and poppy farms. They are sick of being sold out to foreign occupiers by millionaires like Ghani.
U.S. Invasion Funded, Trained the Taliban, Destroyed People’s Progress
U.S. Interventions Destroy Workers’ Rights, Social Benefits, and the Liberation of Oppressed People
The U.S. occupation that began in 2001 is predated by U.S. involvement going back to the 1970s when the CIA funded and armed the Mujahideen that opposed the movements for social progress spearheaded by the Afghan left and supported by the Soviet Union. In 1978, with broad popular support, socialists overthrew the Afghan King, establishing the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). Anahita Ratebzad described DRA laws the U.S. fought to destroy: “Privileges which women, by right, must have are equal education, job security, health services, and free time to rear a healthy generation for building the future of the country […] Educating and enlightening women was a high priority.” This and other progressive steps were destroyed with U.S. arms and training of the Mujahideen, which became the Taliban. The U.S. particularly opposed the measures taken by the DRA to divide the old feudal landowners’ properties among the Afghan masses. The Soviet Union, with a 1,000-mile border with Afghanistan, joined the DRA at their request to defend their gains against a U.S. occupation and Taliban government.
“War on Terror” Just Another War for Profit
No Afghans and no Iraqis were involved in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. These attacks were used as pretext to destroy the independent governments of the Middle East that had formed during the anti-colonial struggles after WWII. This policy was outlined in 1997 by Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and their Project for the New American Century. Independent governments like Libya, Iraq, and Syria were attacked because they stood in the way of U.S. and European domination of the world’s resources, including its people.
Afghanistan has important pipelines, transportation corridors, and natural resources. U.S. military geologists appraise untapped mineral wealth alone to be $1 trillion. The U.S. government’s long occupation was a bid to control those resources by military force. Absent boots on the ground, they will be looking to extract these resources by working with the Taliban.
Workers Demand U.S. Withdrawal of Military, CIA, and Mercenary Forces
After initially withdrawing troops, Biden has ordered 6,000 military personnel back into the country where they have, in recent days, been involved in horrifying scenes at the airport. We must demand that all military personnel and all private military contractors leave the country and cease to perpetuate suffering, war, and death.
Though the exit of the U.S. has been compared to the withdrawal after defeat in Saigon, unlike the progressive, socialist government in Vietnam that threw off U.S. empire, the people of Afghanistan now face uncertainty at the hands of reactionaries created through decades of U.S. involvement. Afghan people deserve peace and prosperity, but these will never be won if the U.S. is involved. The national destiny of Afghanistan should be determined by the Afghans and the Afghans alone. Their own history of struggle shows the way.
The U.S. must stay out of the sovereign affairs of Afghanistan and all nations, including Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, and Yemen. This includes an end to military intervention, blockades, and U.S. sanctions.