A Mar. 3 Associated Press report celebrates the surge in the sale of technologies in Afghanistan. The report praises the growth of electronics stores selling GPS units, Sony PlayStations and Apple iPhones and expresses the view that this new “embrace of technology could help break the cycle of 30 years of relentless warfare.”
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iPhones are sold for about $800, which is equal to the average annual income in Afghanistan. Despite this, the AP reports that one in four Afghanis use a cell phone. It is clear that the benefit to be gleaned from this “boom” is intended for the foreign capitalists—not necessarily the Afghani people.
The AP article showers praise on the “economic development” of Afghanistan, but only because it is a particular form of economic development; namely, economic development in the grips of foreign capital. For most Afghanis, this means nothing but the perpetuation of poverty and economic subjugation.
The 1978 revolution brought a progressive, leftist government to power in Afghanistan that put an entirely different form of economic development on the agenda: one that was free from the dictates of imperialism. Its program included extensive land reform, introduced price controls, legalized trade unions, expanded public services and, with the assistance of the Soviet Union, sought to modernize the country’s predominantly agrarian economy. The secular government fought women’s oppression, addressing women’s illiteracy and bringing women into the country’s political life.
These efforts mattered nothing to the U.S. ruling capitalist class. Washington successfully put a halt to the revolutionary process in Afghanistan by funding counterrevolutionary fundamentalist forces and fomenting a war that would prove costly to the Soviet Union and the world socialist camp. The economic and political gains made during that time were dealt huge setbacks by the reactionary, fundamentalist forces that eventually came to power with the support of U.S. imperialism.
The current war, much like the wars that have been waged over the last 30 years, is a war that denies the Afghani people their right to self-determination. These wars are waged to ensure safety for the penetration of foreign capital and to pursue U.S. geostrategic interests in the region. War and occupation are meant to cement and continue imperialist control over the region—a far cry from bringing peace and “development.”
