As the deadliest year of the
entire war wrapped up with 499 U.S. fatalities, Pres. Obama visited Afghanistan
in early December and spoke to a room filled with members of the 101st Airborne
Division, to tell them about the “progress” they were making in the war.
“Progress” for the Obama
administration probably did not translate into “progress” for the soldiers in
the 101st Airborne. They have taken the heaviest casualties of any unit since
arriving in Afghanistan. Prior to Obama’s visit, they had just endured a
grueling month of combat; of the 53 U.S. soldiers and Marines killed throughout
Afghanistan in November, a stunning 25 came from that one unit. The photo-op
for the president was a tragic irony for the soldiers he addressed.
(www.icasualties.org)
He told them, and the whole
world watching, ”Today we can be proud that there are fewer areas under Taliban
control.” With the nine-year quagmire growing more unpopular by the day, and a
December CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey showing that 63 percent of
people in the United States oppose the war, he had to make it seem as if there
were some purpose for the increased bloodshed.
The problem with his speech in
Afghanistan, and his claim that the vast troop escalation has led to “fewefr
areas under Taliban control,” is that he was lying.
Confidential U.N. security
maps, revealed at the end of December, completely contradict Obama’s claim of
gains made against the Taliban and the Afghan resistance. In fact, they display
quite the opposite.
According to the maps,
resistance forces are launching attacks in areas where they have never been active
before, controlling new territory. In southern Afghanistan, the security
situation remains unchanged—“very high risk”—despite brass claims of “reversing
the momentum” of the resistance.
While the U.S./NATO force has
focused on laying waste to southern Afghanistan, resistance forces have been
able to operate in new areas in the rest of the country. The U.N. security maps
also show that in the north and the east, resistance forces have made clear
gains in 16 districts.
In eastern Afghanistan, the
people overwhelmingly reject the puppet Afghan government and support attacks
on foreign troops. Capt. Robert Kellum, currently serving in the region, told
the New York Times: “There’s definitely a fight here. It’s a definite safe
haven for the Taliban.” (Dec. 26, 2010)
In northern Afghanistan,
although the number of U.S. and German troops has more than doubled, the
resistance forces have greatly expanded their reach. An anonymous Western
diplomat told the New York Times, “The situation in the north has become much
more difficult, a much stronger insurgency than we had before.” (Dec. 15, 2010)
Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital
and the hub of the U.S./NATO command and the puppet Afghan government, is
supposed to be the one place in the entire country where the U.S. can boast of
calm and stability. The Afghan government even ordered barricades and
blast-protection walls to be torn down to show how safe the city is.
Yet in December, resistance
forces launched a wave of sophisticated and devastating attacks on Afghan
government forces in the capital. A Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid,
indicated that this was the beginning of a new focus on the supposed safe haven
of U.S. forces and comprador Afghan politicians: “We are paying more attention
to Kabul … [it] is most important for us as it’s the heart of the government
and foreign troops.” He also described their ability to operate there: “We can
easily hit our targets in Kabul.” (Wall Street Journal Dec. 21, 2010)
‘Here we lose men every day’
For U.S. troops in Afghanistan,
there is nothing but constant, heavy combat, with no end in sight. At the heart
of the fighting in Helmand province, where the Obama administration would like
to claim “progress,” a U.S. military commander anonymously revealed the reality
of combat there: A “‘Tom and Jerry’ cartoon which never ends.”
“The only difference,” he said,
“is the cartoon does not claim lives, but here we lose men every day.”
(TOLOnews.com, Jan 3)
The war in Afghanistan cannot
be won, and the generals and politicians know it. But they refuse to leave,
because the region is far too valuable strategically for U.S. imperialism,
because there is far too much profit to made in the region, and because the
U.S. Empire cannot let the world know that it can be defeated at the hands of the
second poorest population on the planet.
Thus they are doing the only
thing they know how to do—throw more and more bodies into the bloody debacle,
mercilessly obliterate thousands of homes and escalate the killing to new
heights. This is the same strategy the U.S. government employed when they knew
the Vietnam War could not be won: An additional 30,000 U.S. troops and millions
of Vietnamese died after the U.S. knew that a withdrawal was inevitable.
In a move of desperation, the
Obama administration just ordered an additional 1,400 Marines to immediately
deploy to the bloodiest region in Afghanistan, with signs that 3,000 troops
could be added. (WTOP.com, Jan. 6)
With the war growing more
unpopular by the day, to placate public opinion, the Obama administration
initially promised that the U.S. withdrawal would begin in July 2011. That date
was quickly abandoned and pushed back to 2014. Vice Pres. Joseph Biden just
stated on the administration’s most recent trip to Afghanistan that if “the
Afghan people want it, we won’t leave in 2014,” indicating that the U.S. plans
to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. (Washington Post, Jan. 14)
By “Afghan people,” Biden means
the corrupt Afghan puppet government that only exists because it is propped up
by, and follows the dictates of, Washington. The vast majority of Afghans have
shown that not only do they want the U.S./NATO forces out of Afghanistan, but
they will fight endlessly to drive them out.
The Afghan people have shown
that they will not allow U.S. capital to conquer their country. The people of
the United States have turned against the war. U.S. troops and Afghan civilians
continue to die, and every day brings more layoffs, budget cuts, foreclosures
and tuition hikes here at home. It is up to working people in the U.S. to fight
to force this multi-trillion-dollar atrocity to end.
