From Workers World September 19, 2002

EDITORIAL: U.S. DOMINATION IN AFGHANISTAN

Stability--U.S. style. That's what the people of Afghanistan are enduring today, at Ground Zero of the Pentagon's war on their impoverished country. The Sept. 5 assassination attempt on the country's president, Hamid Karzai, and the car bomb explosion in Kabul that killed at least 30 people earlier the same day, illustrate that the United States has not and will not be able to establish a stable government in Afghanistan.

The grueling conditions in the war-torn country are generating anger, resentment and resistance from sectors of the population.

Some 1.5 million people were turned into refugees by the devastation of U.S. bombing raids and destruction of the infrastructure. On Sept. 7 the Pentagon admitted that scores of civilians were killed or injured in a U.S. air strike on a string of Afghan villages in July. According to Afghan investigators, what Washington called "valid military targets" were really wedding parties.

After a quarter of a century of U.S.-instigated wars, 10 million land mines remain buried in the earth, killing or injuring some 400 people every month. And, the United Nations estimates, 6 million people face starvation this winter.

Very little of the billions of dollars promised by Washington and other Western powers has arrived.

The Karzai government is the lightning rod for a great deal of anger--which is why the United States installed this puppet regime to enforce its imperial bidding. Those placed as titular heads of Afghanistan are certainly beholden to U.S. interests in the region.

Karzai, it should be recalled, is a former consultant for the U.S. oil company Unocal. He helped Unocal plan a proposed 1,500-kilometer gas pipeline starting in Turkmenistan, stretching across Afghanistan, and ending in Pakistan. In May, while he was still acting as interim leader, Karzai and the presidents of Pakistan and Turkmenistan signed an agreement to move ahead with the pipeline. Unocal was said to be the frontrunner to head the multi-billion-dollar project.

Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani reportedly worked for the World Bank after nearly a decade as a professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Anwar Ahady, governor of Afghanistan's central bank, taught political science at Providence College in Rhode Island and worked as a banker in Chicago before returning home.

These are just the most prominent individuals who guarantee the United States nearly absolute control over all financial and economic decisions made in Kabul.

Instability in Afghanistan is guaranteed as long as U.S. military brass steer from the helm toward their course of economic and strategic interests in the region.

(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. Subscribe wwnews-on@wwpublish.com. Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)

Edited by author 09-17-2002 07:39 PM

Rockets hit UNICEF's Afghan office

17 Sep 2002 10:20 BST
 
KABUL (Reuters) - At least one man has been wounded after two rockets exploded in the compound of the U.N. Children's Fund in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, Western sources in the city said.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said two rockets landed "in the vicinity" of coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan early in the morning but caused no casualties.

The man wounded in Jalalabad was an Afghan guard for UNICEF, the Western sources said, adding that a room at the office had been badly damaged.

A third rocket landed in another part of the city, but it was unclear if it had caused an casualties, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.N. officials in the Afghan capital Kabul said they were not able to comment.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted sources in Jalalabad as saying the rockets hit the office in the eastern part of the city, not far from the airport, at 4.40 a.m. (0010 GMT).

It said the blasts shattered windows and injured security guard Mohammad Shoaib. The agency said many more people could have been hurt had the attack taken place during office hours.

A government soldier, Mahbood Shinwari, told Reuters from Jalalabad the rockets may have been fired from the Tora Bora mountains, a former base of the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden is considered by Washington the mastermind of the attacks on the United States on September 11 last year.

FATAL BLAST LAST MONTH

Last month, a massive explosion at a construction firm in Jalalabad killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens. Officials said it appeared to have been an accident but they could not rule out sabotage by al Qaeda or Taliban remnants.

There have been several rocket attacks over recent months on Jalalabad airport, which is used by U.S. special forces in their hunt for al Qaeda members and remnants of the former Taliban regime. There have been no casualties in previous attacks, which authorities have blamed on al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Colonel Roger King, a spokesman at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, said in Tuesday's attacks in eastern Afghanistan, one rocket was launched in the eastern town of Asadabad and landed "well away" from coalition installations.

Another landed more than 800 metres (yards) from a coalition position near the village of Shkin in Paktika province, he said, adding that there were no reports of casualties.

King said a U.S. special operations position outside the southern city of Kandahar had also reported small-arms fire, but it was unclear if it was hostile.

King said on Monday two U.S. special forces soldiers were slightly wounded when a mine exploded beneath their vehicle on a road between Jalalabad and Asadabad.

But he denied reports that U.S. bases near the city of Khost came under rocket attack on Sunday night, saying the reports were part of a disinformation campaign.

On Monday, Asmat Gul, the head of intelligence in Khost, told Reuters by telephone that U.S. aircraft were scrambled after at least 10 rockets were fired the previous night at the city's old and new airfields, which are bases for hundreds of U.S. troops.

A similar report was carried earlier by the Afghan Islamic Press. But Kheal Baz, military commander for Khost governor Hakim Taniwal, also denied that there had been any attacks.

U.S. Questions Viability Of Expanding ISAF

A new U.S. State Department strategy report obtained yesterday by Agence France-Presse indicates the United States may still oppose expanding the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Citing prohibitive "logistical and command burdens" and calling on Afghans themselves to address their country's long-term security needs, the report contradicts recent statements by senior officials in President George W. Bush's administration indicating a softening of longstanding U.S. opposition to expanding ISAF beyond Kabul, the only place it is currently deployed.

According to the report, despite a round of recent attacks and bomb scares in Kabul, the 4,700-soldier ISAF is doing an "exceptional" job. "However, scaling up ISAF to cover a country the size of Afghanistan would pose significant logistical and command burdens," the report reads. "Providing security to the rural hinterlands in Afghanistan would be almost impossible for any outside force."

"It is ... up to Afghans themselves to extend security to all of Afghanistan through an effective and responsible national army," the report reads. "It is imperative that the armed regional leaders provide short-term security as a first condition for securing their national identity."

According to a State Department official, the report does not completely rule out the idea of ISAF expansion. "In looking at the expansion issue, you have got to keep in mind what a new mission would be," the official said, calling for a "realistic" approach. "You just don't say you are going to make ISAF bigger."

House of Representatives International Relations Committee member Tom Lantos said the report contradicts the Bush administration's statements on the issue. "In fighting Osama bin Laden's minions in Afghanistan, the president has shown decisive leadership," Lantos said. "In winning the peace, however, this administration's record has not measured up" (AFP/Yahoo! News, Sept. 18).

Hilmi Akin Zorlu of Turkey, the current head of the 20-country force, said yesterday that he does not believe the force will extend its reach to areas outside Kabul. He cited little will on the part of troop-contributing countries and those providing funding. "None of the member nations of the U.N. Security Council would like to provide either troops or funding or take a resolution on that issue (expansion), so I don't see such an expansion" in the short term, he said. "Maybe in the medium or long term."

According to Zorlu, expanding ISAF would require more combat troops and air support, not just the dispatch of small units to urban centers other than Kabul. The ISAF chief insisted, however, that the force "must continue" into next year. Zorlu added that he believes Germany will take over the ISAF command when Turkey's stint ends Dec. 20 (Mike Collett-White, Reuters/Swissinfo, Sept. 17).

In other news, an ISAF spokesman said yesterday that a fuel tanker with dynamite attached to it, stopped over the weekend by ISAF and Afghan forces, was attempting to target Bagram air base, the headquarters of U.S. forces in the country. Two men in the truck were arrested when it was stopped at a checkpoint Saturday (Todd Pitman, Associated Press/Boston Globe, September 18, 2002).

David Rogers, Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2002

The Wall Street Journal reported that infighting has broken out within U.S. President George W. Bush's administration over aid funds to Afghanistan.

The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last week voted to require at least $295 million under the next budget in economic aid to Afghanistan -- more than double Bush's proposal. Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget has requested no money to cover $80 million Bush pledged last week for a Kabul-Herat highway project. The State Department has indicated it may divert $20 million from relief aid funds to pay for the highway project, while the Office of Management and Budget says existing appropriations should suffice.

From Workers World October 10, 2002

PENTAGON IN ON THE TAKE? AFGHAN OPIUM PRODUCTION SOARS

By Deirdre Griswold

If anyone still needs proof that the "war on drugs" is a monumental fraud and red herring, here it is:

According to the BBC-TV World News of Sept. 26, the amount of opium produced in Afghanistan has increased by 14 times since the U.S. military overthrew the Taliban and occupied the country.

The news report warned: "A huge increase in Afghan opium production has raised fears of a new influx of heroin into European cities. Latest estimates suggest that poppy cultivation has increased by up to 1,400 percent since the removal of the Taliban regime at the end of last year."

The estimate comes from the British organization Drugscope, which presented its findings to an international conference in Paris.

Last year, because of a ban on opium production imposed by the Taliban, just 85 tons were produced. This year, the figure is expected to be between 1,900 and 2,700 tons.

The report stresses that Afghan farmers are in desperate shape and need some other source of income if opium production is banned. Opium earns 10 times as much per acre as other crops. About 90 percent of the heroin sold in Britain originates in Afghanistan.

The phony war on drugs is being used right now by the U.S. government as an excuse to carry out the anti-guerrilla war in Colombia. The FARC-EP has been fighting for basic social change in that country for over three decades--including an agrarian reform program so that poor farmers don't have to turn to producing coca to make a living.

The situation in Afghanistan raises the question, how many U.S. military commanders are in on the take? They were in on the action in South Vietnam when drugs became a big export product there during the U.S. occupation and war.

The wife of the U.S. officer in charge of the whole "war on drugs" in Colombia pleaded guilty in a Brooklyn federal court in May 2000 after evidence was presented that she shipped $700,000 worth of cocaine to the U.S. from Bogota through the U.S. Embassy's diplomatic pouch. Col. James Hiett himself was later convicted of "misprision"--accepting $25,000 of the drug money from her in cash and using it to pay their bills.

The whole affair got hardly any notice from the corporate media--which shows that their editorial policy is driven first and foremost by politics, not sensationalism.

- END -

(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. Subscribe wwnews-on@wwpublish.com. Unsubscribe wwnews-off@wwpublish.com. Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)

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Source: UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Date: 17 Oct 2002

Press Briefing by Eric Laroche UNICEF Representative for Afghanistan 17 Oct 2002

Good morning everybody. I think it is the first time I am coming here so I am delighted to meet you.

The reason why I am here is because I think UNICEF now has to denounce the acts of violence against women and children in Afghanistan. We do believe in an Afghanistan which is fit for children and we work everyday to make sure that the government, local authorities and central authorities will be able to make an Afghanistan fit for children.

Children by definition are vulnerable, they are innocent and they are dependant. The role of UNICEF is to make sure that we protect their rights. Children have the right to education, they have the right to play, they have the right for hope, they have the right for joy, they have the right to grow, and they have the right to learn. What we are seeing in recent weeks is precisely a violation of all these rights because a child that goes to school - a girl that goes to school and sees her school being burnt down is deprived of her rights. I think we have a commitment to protect their rights. There is no peace in the future unless you have children educated in this country and I think everyone recognizes that and I think I would like you as reporters to not report but mediate and I am going to tell you why.

In the past weeks we have seen two days ago another explosion in a school in Kandahar. But, as you know two, three days ago it was in Wardak where schools were burnt down. A few weeks ago it was in Sar-i-Pul - a school was burnt down. You have many examples like this where even schools have been receiving rockets in the past. That cannot continue. One question is: Is there any pattern behind that? We don't think there is any pattern. The question that is often raised is: Do you think it is a resurgence of Taliban? We don't think it is a resurgence of Taliban but we think it is time for you to help people react against these acts of violence. How can you help people? To mediate and mediating is not to report the - let's say the sexiness of the news - but to help the community defend their own children.

An example, in Kandahar, the Director of Education has made publicly a statement asking for children to go back to school. In Sar-i-Pul, the community has organised themselves to emphasize in all corners of the village the importance of education in spite of the fact that the schools were burnt down. I think that this is very important because unless people understand that school is key to peace there will be no peace in the future in Afghanistan. Unless your children in Afghanistan are educated there will be no peace, there will be no growth, the will be no economic development. So it is timely for you to play your role of mediator and not only reporters.

Obviously, UNICEF regrets all this. We are ready to help at the community level, at the local level, at the central level, the government, to make sure that children's education, children's schools are going to be protected.

I was here during the time of the Taliban. I was pushing very much the education of girls during the time of the Taliban. We were all dreaming to see children back in school. I must say that the dream has come true. I mean it is a reality. If you go in the cities all over Afghanistan, if you go in any village all over Afghanistan, you see children going back to school. If you would have been here - some of you were obviously here - some years ago, you couldn't see that at all. We were never expecting that 3 million children would come back to school. We would never expect that 30 percent of these children are girls. Even in Kabul, 45 percent of all children going to school every day are girls. Most of the schools that have been burnt down recently were girl's schools. So, I think that it is very important that we continue giving hope to children. If you would have talked to a child, any Afghan, two years ago or even 1½ years ago, what struck me was the lack of hope. We are restoring hope.

Reconstruction is about putting hope back onto the agenda. I think we are just getting there. The reason why I decided yesterday to come here is to ask you to help us restoring hope for reconstruction in Afghanistan. Children are very curious, they are full of hope, they are very joyful and I think we need to keep these children being so in the future.

The government has started reconstructing. There is no reconstruction in Afghanistan unless children are educated again. As I said at the beginning we would like you to help us making sure that children are going to go and learn in a safe environment.

Thank you.

Questions and Answers

Q: How many of these schools have been burnt down? We haven't heard so much about it.

Chulho Hyun: As was shared with you a few weeks ago, there was - just to make clear - two school tents in Sar-i-Pul towards the end of last month. There was also an initial report that we shared just today about the explosion in Kandahar at one school. In Wardak, we are just hearing initial reports and investigating and waiting for the investigations of local authorities in Wardak Province of one school.

Q cont: So the report is about [inaudible]?

Chulho Hyun: That is right.

Q: In Wardak the school was burnt?

Chulho Hyun: No, we are waiting to hear details from on the ground whether the extent of the damage - we have heard both that the school was destroyed, that the school was burnt - but I think that it is premature to confirm to what extent the school was damaged.

Q: Do you have figures on the number of people injured and killed?

Chulho Hyun: No, the only figure that we shared with you today, following the report out of Kandahar city, was that one male teacher was slightly injured, but his injuries were not major. In fact he was able to return to work today or yesterday.

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