Thursday, December 18, 2008

Time to quit Afghanistan

Time to quit Afghanistan
By ERIC MARGOLIS
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2008/10/05/6984116-sun.html


At last, a faint glimmer of light at the end of the Afghan tunnel.

Last week, the U.S.-installed Afghan president, Hamid Karzai,
revealed he had asked Saudi Arabia to broker peace talks with the
alliance of tribal and political groups resisting western occupation
collectively known as the Taliban.

Taliban leader Mullah Omar quickly rejected Karzai's offer and
claimed the U.S. was headed toward the same kind of catastrophic
defeat in Afghanistan that the Soviet Union met. The ongoing
financial panic in North America lent a certain credence to his words.

Meanwhile, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan,
urgently called for at least 10,000 more troops but, significantly,
also proposed political talks with the Taliban. U.S. and NATO forces
in Afghanistan are increasingly on the defensive, hard pressed to
defend vulnerable supply lines in spite of massive fire power and
total control of the air.

I recently asked Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's former senior
adviser, how this seemingly impossible war could be won. His eyes
dancing with imperial hubris, Rove replied, "More Predators (missile
armed drones) and helicopters!" Which reminded me of poet Hilaire
Belloc's wonderful line about British imperialism, "Whatever
happens/we have got/the Maxim gun (machine gun)/and they have not."

Though Karzai's olive branch was rejected, the fact he made it public
is very important. By doing so, he broke the simple-minded western
taboo against negotiations with the Taliban and its allies.

DRUG FIGHTERS

The Taliban was founded as an Islamic religious movement dedicated to
fighting communism and the drug trade. It received U.S. funding until
May 2001. But western war propaganda has so demonized the Taliban
that few politicians have the courage to propose the obvious and
inevitable: A negotiated settlement to this pointless seven-year war.
Even NATO's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said the war
could only be ended by negotiations, not military means.

The Taliban and its allies are mostly Pashtuns (or Pathans), who
comprise half of Afghanistan's population. They have been largely
excluded from political power by the U.S.-backed Kabul regime, which
relies on Tajik and Uzbek ethnic minorities, chiefs of the old Afghan
Communist Party, and the nation's leading drug lords.

Canada, which lacks funds for modern medical care, has spent a
staggering $22 billion to support its little war against the Pashtun
tribes. It's a war which Canada's defence minister actually claimed
is necessary so that Canadian delegates would be "taken seriously" at
international meetings. A better path to credibility might be to not
plagiarize from other right wing leader's speeches.

Ottawa and Washington should listen to Karzai who, despite being a
U.S.-installed "asset," is also a decent man who cares about his
nation. In fact, Ottawa should remember Canada's venerable position
as an international peacemaker, a role that has made it one of the
world's most respected nations.

Mr. Harper's role model, George W. Bush, is probably the most
disliked man on earth and certainly America's worst president in
history, who has led his nation from disaster to calamity. Only 22%
of Americans support Bush. Half of them believe Elvis is still alive.

The Taliban are not "terrorists." The movement had nothing to do with
9/11 though it did shelter Osama bin Laden, a national hero of the
war against the Soviets. Only a handful of al-Qaida are left in
Afghanistan.

The current war is not really about al-Qaida and "terrorism," but
about opening a secure corridor through Pashtun tribal territory to
export the oil and gas riches of the Caspian Basin to the West.
Canada and the rest of NATO have no business being pipeline
protection troops. Canada's military intervention in Afghanistan has
jeopardized its national security by putting it on the map as an anti-
Muslim nation joined at the hip with Bush and his ruinous policies.

As the great Benjamin Franklin said, "there is no good war, and no
bad peace."

I hope Ottawa will have the courage to admit it was wrong about
Afghanistan and bring its troops home -- now.

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