The following is republished from RT.com
The US lead NATO mission in Afghanistan is heating up while NATO itself struggles with the costs and its own existence.
Meeting in
Lisbon one of the lead agenda items is redefining NATO’s identify.
Initially established as a balance to the Soviet Union during the Cold
War, many question the need for the organization in the 21st century.
Brian Becker, the national director for the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition argued that there is no longer a need for NATO.
“NATO is not needed. NATO is functioning basically as a fig leaf for US foreign policy and US military strategy,” he said. “There
is a branding of that operation [Afghanistan], that US military
operation, to make it look as is the world has come together against a
shared objective, against the War on Terror, against al-Qaeda.”
US President Barack Obama is working hard to keep America’s NATO partners onboard for the prolonged operation in Afghanistan.
“Many
of the other NATO countries, all over Europe, those populations, they
don’t want to go along, they don’t want their governments to be
accomplices for the US war in Afghanistan,” he said. “The Obama
administration is twisting arms in Lisbon, it’s putting pressure on the
different European governments not to abandon the American government.”
At
the same time, the people in Afghanistan are resisting. They are rising
up similar events that took place in Vietnam, argued Becker.
“It looks like a losing cause, which it is,” he added.
Ten
years into the conflict, the US has announced it will send, for the
first time, M1 Abrams tanks to Afghanistan, shifting the conflict from
an unconventional to a more conventional war.
“The M1 Abrams tank is real a killing machine,” explained Becker. “It’s coming in, as the Pentagon says, to impose shock and awe on the villagers in southern Afghanistan.”
The tank is known for being able to destroy a house from a mile away with pin-point accuracy.
Many
in Afghanistan still see US and NATO forces as invading imperials,
occupying their land and livelihoods. A poll conducted in Afghanistan
indicated many villagers in Afghanistan do not understand the pretext to
the invasion of Afghanistan.
“Asking them, do you know about
September 11th, do you know that there were hijacked airliners that
crashed into the World Trade Center, 92 percent of the people in those
occupied villages have never heard of the World Trade Center, knew
nothing about September 11,” said Becker. “They don’t
understand at least the pretext, but they may understand the
fundamental, the real reason, which is like occupiers in the past people
want to come in and take their land, their resources, and their country
for their own empire ends.
A third piece to the Afghan
puzzle is Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who must balance the interests
of the US, regional partners and his own people.
“He’s between a rock and a hard place,” said Becker.
Karzai
needs the support of NATO and the US to remain in power, he explained.
But he also has to keep he people satisfied. Karzai is seeking the best
balance he can between pleasing occupying forces while showing
resistance on behalf of Afghanis.
