Private Eye’s end of August front cover explains why, if our current crop of politicians don’t stop authorizing this monstrous war in Afghanistan, we’ll need replacements who will.

A view from the British Army's OPTIMISTS

Womens’ liberation in Afghanistan has been a cause célèbre in western countries for some time.

Conveniently absent from the discussion, in most cases, is the rather significant fact that the ascendancy of “Islamic fundamentalism’ in Afghanistan, to the detriment of human rights for women, has been largely the consequence of deliberate western policy over three decades.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: has enjoyed playing chess with other countries

The left-leaning Afghan Government of the late 1970s that initially invited the Soviet Union to assist with military support, actually included significant female participation. The regime in Kabul asked the USSR for help in response to destabilization by Islamic fundamentalists, who were trained and financed by the USA and its proxies. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a US policy-maker responsible for developing this strategy back in the 1970s, gleefully admitted it in an interview 20 years later. He’s proud he played a key role in entrapping the USSR into an unwinnable conflict in Afghanistan.

It’s true that by the time the Taliban consolidated its power in the late 1990s, organisations such as RAWA (the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, which had also opposed Soviet occupation) were deeply engaged in opposing heightened oppression of women under the zealous new Government’s policies. In 2000 and 2001, as invasion hysteria was brewed up by the western mass media, it often quoted RAWA to highlight the backwardness of the Taliban. But anyone imagining that RAWA supports current US/UK/Australian policy in Afghanistan needs to check the facts.

CairnsBlog is a courageous one-person blog that provides occasionally brilliant independent coverage of local issues in this region of Australia.

This morning it ran a strongly-worded anti-war article by Werner Schmidlin, a local peace activist, with the self-explanatory title: The futile and costly Afghan war.

The Michael Moore of Cairns isn't a Hollywood-promoted left-gatekeeper

It’s a fine article, not exactly what I’d have written myself, but thank heavens for diversity in the peace movement. Thank heavens that there is a peace movement in this country! You’d never guess it from the mainstream media.

The (latest) war against Afghan resistance fighters has now been going on for nearly twice as long as World War One. It’s a war going nowhere fast – unwinnable, futile and utterly destructive for Afghans and invaders alike.

The way forward is clearly to negotiate peace. The ‘west’ has a duty to offer reparations for an illegal invasion based on lies, followed by nearly a decade of bloody occupation. If we really want to help ‘womens rights’ in Afghanistan – or other equally noble objectives – our Governments could negotiate the terms of payments to the next Afghan Government and apply pressure that way, with carrots and not sticks.

Western troops in Afghanistan: opium production has soared since their arrival

Today Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens, issued a statement calling for a full Parliamentary debate over Afghanistan.

Greens call for parliamentary debate on Afghanistan

Bob Brown: wants a debate about Afghanistan

Media Release | Spokesperson Bob Brown | Tuesday 21st July 2009

Australian Greens Leader, Senator Bob Brown, has called for a parliamentary debate on Australia’s continuing involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

The Greens have consistently maintained opposition to Australia’s defence forces being deployed to Afghanistan, saying they should be retained for use within our region.

“We will always support Australia’s defence force personnel in Afghanistan or wherever else they may be deployed by the government of the day,” Senator Brown said.

“However, we oppose the government’s decision, originally at the request of the Bush administration, to send Australians to Afghanistan. We advocate increased civil aid instead.

“The Bush administration made the calamitous mistake of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan for the invasion of Iraq and it is a not a mistake we believe Australian soldiers should be helping redress.

“It’s time for a full parliamentary debate about Australia’s involvement in the Afghan war.”

To someone like myself, so irate about the lack of clear anti-war voice in Parliament I feel like voting for a tree at Australia’s next election, it’s a modest step forward. Yes, indeed, there should be a Parliamentary debate about Afghanistan. A real debate, with real diversity of views represented.

My politics are on the green side.

I’ve long been persuaded that without intelligent environmental management – including management at a global level – humanity is on a fast track to wreck the only habitat we have.

I believe climate change is a highly significant issue. To those who think it’s just a media beat-up, I very much hope you’re right – but I wouldn’t gamble the planet on a hunch. I’ve held that view for over 20 years and explained why previously.

Bob Brown: has helped to save some magnificent forests

Other environmental problems must also be tackled with seriousness barely seen so far on a large scale. Most modern agricultural practices are unsustainable. We’re progressively toxifying the global environment. The appalling loss of biodiversity is a tragedy and a disgrace to this generation.

We need politicians in power who understand these issues – and have a strong commitment to do a lot better.

In Australia, a national Greens Party came into being in the 1990s, led by the popular Tasmanian environmentalist Bob Brown.

From the outset, the Australian Greens embraced a commitment to ecological sustainability, social justice and to the peaceful resolution to conflict. Opposition to war is a key issue for many Greens supporters.

In June 2008, the Australian Greens issued a Policy Statement on International Relations. It’s the most recent policy statement I’ve found that mentions Afghanistan. The reference is brief, but leaves no room for ambiguity:

July 2009: record death toll for invading troops in an eight year war... who's counting Afghan casualties?

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear:
“A fool lies here
Who tried to hustle the East”

- Excerpt from ‘Songs from Books‘
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

In the U-Tube video (below), Congressman Ron Paul gives a lengthy pre-amble to a question about Afghanistan he poses to US ‘Special Envoy’ Richard Holbrooke. Then we hear Holbrooke’s reply.

Ron Paul: asking most of the right questions

Central to Mr Holbrooke’s argument when he tries to explain WHY the USA is fighting in Afghanistan – and now Pakistan – is 9-11.

America, according to Mr Holbrooke, is at war because America was attacked from Afghanistan.

“…Afghanistan/Pakistan is not Iraq. The reason we are in this area – not withstanding its immense difficulties – is because the people of this area attacked our country on September 11th 2001 and have stated flatly they intend to do it again. They’ve done all the other things we mentioned earlier. Therefore it’s not Iraq and it’s not Vietnam…it’s about defending our country.”

While not discounting the possibility that the false-flag operation foisted on the world on September 11th 2001 had some tentacles inside Pakistan and even Afghanistan, it should now be clear to all intelligent people who are paying attention that the observed events of 9-11 can only be explained by some variant of the ‘inside job’/ ‘Israeli attack’ thesis.

The notion that an organization called ‘Al Qaida’, based in Afghanistan, was wholly – or even largely – responsible for 9-11 is outright fantasy.

WTC 7: only fools believe 'Al Qaida' demolished this building

How did ‘Al Qaida’ demolish World Trade Center Building 7?

The Afghanistan War has been going on so long few seem able to remember why we’re fighting it any more. That’s the way the Anglo-American-Zionist Axis of Imperialism like it. But some of us have inconvenient memories.

In 2001, Afghanistan was in a relative state of calm after two decades of bloody warfare (which commenced back in the late 1970s when ‘the west’ destablized a left wing elected government which, among other things, vigorously promoted women’s rights). True, there were still rebel-held areas eight years ago, mainly in the north of the country where the foreign-sponsored Northern Alliance held sway. But most of the country was at peace under the Taliban’s leadership.

Afghan Opium Production: since 2001 it's been boomtime for Drug Lords

For the first time for many years, it also seemed an Afghani Government was really getting on top of opium production. With financial help from the UN and US State Department, the Taliban Government – popular precisely because of its comparative freedom from the corruption of previous administrations – was making a serious dent in opium harvest statistics.

I’m not an apologist for the Taliban Government of that time. It did, in my opinion, some foolish and unjust things. Womens’ rights were certainly on the nose in Taliban-led Afghanistan. The destruction of World Heritage Buddhist monuments was an outrage.

We're expected to believe Bin Laden collapsed this building too; a very absurd lie to rationalize a very futile war

An impossible job

Download an A4 printable version of Mission Impossible here (PDF, 693KB)

How many western ‘go along to get along’ politicians have children or grand children fighting the stupid war against Afghani independence fighters?

A Taliban Warrior, so popular in the village he need carry no weapon

Not many, I imagine. They prefer to use other cannon fodder.  The video below gives an insight into what they’re achieving: entire communities united in opposition to the invasive foreign presence.

An AlJazeera video from 9th March 2009 – Alarming rise in Afghan civilian casualties is useful background; it covers rising anger over the occupation in urban Afghanistan.

AlJazeera’s more recent video features old fashioned ‘unembedded’ journalism: the reporters venture out on the wild side, visiting far-flung villages held by the Taliban which are regularly pulverized by bombing from the air.

The villagers’ message is unambiguous: Invaders Out of Afghanistan Now!

Hat tip to Uruknet Video: Afghan civilian deaths help Taliban