U.S. commander in Afghanistan given expanded powers

The Obama administration has not only christened General Stanley A. McChrystal as the new commander of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan but has given him unprecedented powers.

Gen. McChrystal is a longtime commander in the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations. Before his latest appointment, he led secret commando teams in Iraq and Afghanistan for five years. McChrystal was involved in the cover-up of the “friendly fire” death of Pat Tillman, an NFL star who joined the army only to become highly critical of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. McChrystal approved the 2004 Silver Star citation that accompanied the Army’s fake heroic death story.

Following his appointment as the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, McChyrstal stated that the population in Afghanistan didn’t just need protection from the “enemy” but also “from the unintended consequences of our [U.S.] operation.”

Given McChyrstal’s history, the Afghani people will need added protection from him. A May 12 front-page article in the New York Times described McChyrstal as fanatical killer: “In Iraq, where he oversaw secret commando operations for five years, former intelligence officials say that he had an encyclopedic, even obsessive, knowledge about the lives of terrorists, and that he pushed his ranks aggressively to kill as many of them as possible.” The push for high body counts—from Vietnam to Iraq—has inevitably led to massacres.

The capitalist class, through its representatives in the White House and Congress and in the corporate media, has tried to frame Afghanistan as the good war. McChrystal’s statement is just more of the same, empty rhetoric trying to cover the imperialist, brutal nature of the occupation. Neither the U.S. government, nor its military, has any real concern for the Afghani people.

The Senate rushed this approval through, with Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada leading the crusade saying he had talked to Adm. Mullen, who explained the urgency for General McChrystal to be in Afghanistan that very night.

Violence and exploitation characterize the occupation of Afghanistan. The difference now is only in how much power has been delegated to the man in charge.

General McChrystal has been given the freedom to assemble a corps of 400 officers and soldiers, who will rotate from the United States to Afghanistan for a minimum of three years and work directly under his control. McChrystal will lead a team that includes a senior intelligence officer and a three-star general as his deputy, in addition to a number of former special operations officers. The new force is intended to promote a strategy that includes expanded attacks on the Afghan resistance.

With this amount of power delegated to one man and with the Pentagon’s “surge” of 21,000 additional U.S. troops on their way to Afghanistan, it is clear that the Obama administration plans to fulfill their its campaign promise of winning the “just” war. The strategy of expanded war is similar to the Bush administration’s “surge” strategy in Iraq.

For almost eight years, the people of Afghanistan have resisted the U.S./NATO occupation. There is every indication that they will continue the struggle no matter the face of their oppressor. It is the responsibility of people here to defend the Afghani people’s right to self-determination.