The People of Afghanistan Played Decisive Role in U.S. Defeat 
Demonstration in
Pakistan, September 2001, against U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
The people of Afghanistan, with a long history of defeating
invaders, once again secured victory in driving the U.S. out of the
country. It was the people and their stand against foreign intervention
that was decisive, not the power and military might of the U.S. Indeed
the strength of the people of Afghanistan is such that in the last 30
years they have defeated two great powers, first the former Soviet
Union and now the U.S. The U.S. tried to hide this
reality by claiming the fault was with the Afghan Army and security
forces. Despite massive U.S. funding, arms and training, it is said
they were "unwilling" to fight. Biden went so far as to insinuate they
were cowards. As is common, the U.S. can
never predict the enthusiasm of the people in fighting for their right
to decide their own affairs, free from foreign intervention. The U.S.
ignores that the people of Afghanistan have their own ways of sorting
out problems and of governance so as not to fight each other while
consistently opposing foreign invasions. The U.S. could not believe
that the people it managed to buy off and empower would flee. It did
not expect the people of Afghanistan to persist for 20 years, nor did
they expect that the U.S. and their collaborators would be forced to
flee in such a humiliating manner. President Biden
says the U.S. must "learn from our mistakes," but it is clear it does
not want to learn this basic lesson. From World War II to Korea,
Vietnam, Greece, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean to
today with Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela
amongst others, it is the people that are decisive in winning victory,
not U.S. military might. The ignorance and arrogance of U.S.
imperialism is such that they think their conception that the U.S. is
indispensable -- not the people -- will prevail. The more the U.S.
treats the people at home and abroad as disposable, the more the people
will prove them wrong. The U.S. is notorious for
its lies and disinformation about the peoples abroad, whether Iraq or
Iran or Libya or Syria or Yemen, all to justify U.S. aggression. In
this regard, reports about what the Taliban is or is not and what it
stands for and what it is doing should be recognized for what they are
-- no different than those about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or
that the people of Afghanistan merited collective punishment because of
9/11.  The people of
Afghanistan have a long and heroic history of standing against
invasions and have the right now to determine their own affairs without
foreign interference, including continued U.S. drone strikes. In
Biden's entire speech August 31 he never once addressed the people of
Afghanistan, made no apology for U.S. crimes, and offered no
recognition of their victory. Instead, after threatening all those who
he will decide "wish America harm" with elimination, he said the U.S.
will "continue to support the Afghan people through diplomacy,
international influence and humanitarian aid."
While
claiming the U.S. will support the Afghan people, Biden has frozen
nearly all of the Afghan Central Bank's $9.4 billion in foreign
currency reserves, depriving the new government and people of
Afghanistan of funds needed for food and basic services. Biden also got
the International Monetary Fund not to release $450 million in funds
that were scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan to deal with the
coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. and other Western countries have also
halted humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. As British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson put it, withholding aid gave them "very considerable leverage
-- economic, diplomatic and political." Just as the
U.S. is using sanctions against Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea, Iran, Venezuela and other countries in an effort to bring
them to their knees and failing, it will no doubt fail in Afghanistan.
Again, it is the people and their just fight to determine their own
affairs that are decisive, not U.S. sanctions and military might.
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 9 - September 5, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/M510097.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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