Afghanistan - A New Chapter in the Tragedy Commences
Bob Briton
16/08/2021
The fall of Kabul to Taliban forces prompted this article. Events have quickly surged ahead and that fact now confronts the world. The media is full of commentary about the waste of lives on the part of occupying forces and massive material resources committed to preventing such an eventuality. Predictions about the consequences of the military defeat will crowd out news feeds in the coming days and weeks and much will be said of the failure of the US invaders to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Afghan people. But certain other facts will not get much or any treatment because they give no reassurance that the US imperialists will refrain from other military adventures or efforts to impose their will on presumably sovereign nations.
The first uncomfortable truth for those wanting to trust the motives of major powers in situations like Afghanistan is that, from the stance of the material interest of the global capitalist ruling class, Afghanistan was not a ‘waste’. Fortunes were made by the parasitic ‘military-industrial complex’, which includes corporations contracted to ‘rebuild’ Afghanistan. Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney and the Halliburton Corporation he once headed up are emblematic of this type of predatory behaviour. Examples of it were catalogued in the book from 2007 book by Canadian author Naomi Klein called The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
Klein is no Marxist-Leninist and her political and ideological position is confused but the point that there is no form of human misery that capitalism will not seek to profit from is well made. Halliburton profited hugely from the US invasions in the Middle East and, before that, in the crumbling Yugoslavia. That disintegration was, itself, engineered by the imperialists who were well aware of the nightmarish consequences. These are not ‘failures’ or ‘wastes’ of effort from the point of view of the imperialists; they are unqualified successes.
“Despite the fortunes made by foreign contractors, the country remains devastated and bleak.”
So now, Afghanistan is once again added to this list of ‘successes’. The Taliban will take power once more and become beggars on global financial and resource markets. They won’t have broken away from the yoke of imperialism in the same way that the execrable, anti-worker regime of the Mullahs in Iran has not broken away. It could be said that, at least, the holders of political power will have arisen from the local population rather than a puppet apparatus appointed directly or indirectly by foreign invaders. But they won’t be and can’t be ‘independent’ and there is no doubt that the situation of the women in the country will again be set back by centuries as a particularly backward version of Islam is enforced in the country. The reasons for the development of the situation involving the long-suffering people of Afghanistan will continue to be analysed and it is hard to say whether things will get better or worse for the people of Afghanistan. But it is difficult to find causes for optimism.
Another uncomfortable truth is the role of the occupying forces during the last twenty years of ham-fisted intervention. Some saw reasons for satisfaction, including the once-popular US film-maker and commentator Michael Moore. In the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Moore produced the film Fahrenheit 9/11 in which he rightly debunks the ‘weapons of mass-destruction’ excuse given for the naked grab for resources, geo-political advantage and all the other ‘opportunities’ that flow from such a military adventure. But he strayed onto the topic of Afghanistan, which he said was a proper target for armed intervention given the safe haven extended by the Taliban to forces held responsible the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in 2001.
During the decades of occupation by NATO and other forces, including those of Australia, the media seemed content with the narrative that the invaders were mopping up Taliban forces, breaking up the lucrative drug trade from the country and investing their energies in worthwhile civil construction. That fantasy shrivelled in recent times with revelations of the true nature of the activities of the invaders. Australians have been given some sense of this with detail of the day-to-day function of Australian troops that has given rise to the defamation case brought by decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith.
While ‘embedded’ (directed) media outlets focused on positives such as girls going to school for the first time, they largely glossed over the bleak reality of blatant corruption and official banditry of the Kabul government. Despite the fortunes made by foreign contractors, the country remains devastated and bleak. As mentioned, leading figures in the Taliban government will be obliged to go cap-in-hand to the masters of capital. Most likely, these will be the same members of the international capitalist ruling class they might imagine they saw off militarily. Some of the financing might come from new masters of the same type in China, Russia or India. In any case, the outlook is gloomy for the people of Afghanistan whose interests do not register with the thugs in suits who will be conducting those negotiations.
A tragedy that might get some minor treatment as events unfold is that Afghanistan once had an opportunity to strike out as a prosperous, sovereign and more open society. In 1978, the country embarked on a socialist path with strong support from the Soviet Union. This aid was of a completely different nature to that extended by the imperialists. It was massive involving projects vital to the development of the economy and society. It was a burden, an act of solidarity entered into by the Soviet people. The ‘return’, if there was any, was that the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan would take its place among the nations of the world working for the liberation of others and cease languishing as victims of outside predation.
Images of this time, with confident women taking a full role in the life of their country, should haunt the minds of the architects of the hellish current conditions of Afghanistan. But they won’t. These people, to be found in the administrations of every major capitalist country, did their utmost to destroy socialism in Afghanistan and anywhere else it took root. The most unholy alliances were formed to do this. The US and other NATO countries along with second tier players like Australia and China played the most despicable game.
They funnelled massive funds to the Mujahedeen (the current Taliban) along with advice and military equipment. The ruthless character of these forces, described by US President Regan as ‘freedom fighters’, was well known. The presence of insurgents from other reactionary sections of the Islamic World was noted, as well. The potential for ‘blow back’, in the shape of a wave of terrorism was also recognised but included in the gruesome calculus of imperialism. There is an old Persian saying that ‘the thief loves a noisy market’. In this case it means that the numbers of victims that will need to lose their lives or their futures don’t matter as long as it provides a cover for imperialism’s interests and the wheels of exploitative commerce keep turning.
Should Marxist-Leninists cheer the ‘victory’ of the Taliban? As said above, the future of Afghanistan must be determined by its people. The sight of US and other military forces evacuating in haste should be cause for optimism. But the arrival of reactionary gangs in Kabul and the hurried departure of US and other occupiers ahead of their previous September 11 deadline is no re-run of events in Saigon on April 30, 1975. The Taliban has no intention of rolling out a progressive plan for the country as the people and liberation forces of Vietnam did. The military situation will involve a change of plans for the US-allied imperialists but not a change of course.
Ultimately, the people of Afghanistan will find their way forward to socialism as will the rest of the peoples of the world. When that happens, Marxist-Leninists and the international working class will be entitled to let out a rousing cheer. The work of ridding the world of exploitation will be over and the work of building a global community of equals will have begun. In the meantime, the Taliban ‘victory’ is bound to produce masses of refugees. A task for the workers of Australia will be to oblige a guilty and unwilling government to give them sanctuary.