15) TEN YEARS OF IMPERIALIST OCCUPATION AND WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Aug. 27‑28, 2011

     October 7, 2011, will mark the tenth anniversary of the U.S and British missile attacks which launched the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan. The Chretien Liberal government of Canada quickly joined this racist war of aggression, which continues with no end in sight. In fact, the war in Afghanistan has been a key part of the broader imperialist strategy, aimed at military‑political domination of the region and control of its vast resources.

     The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, meeting in Toronto as the war began, unequivocally condemned the US/UK aggression. A statement by the CPC on that day said, "While claiming that they are targeting Taliban military forces and those accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, the imperialist powers are bringing new deaths and suffering to the people of Afghanistan, for whom we express our sorrow and solidarity at this difficult moment." Our party warned that the U.S., which has engaged in frequent military aggressions against other countries, had no moral or legal right to launch its war of revenge against the Afghan people.

     The views of our Party have been confirmed repeatedly by the events of the past decade. We called for an immediate halt to military aggression in favour of a meaningful search for political and peaceful solutions involving all forces in Afghanistan ‑ a demand which today is widely backed by international and Afghan public opinion. We rejected the hypocritical claims that the western military actions were "humanitarian" in nature, as proven by the subsequent deaths of many thousands of Afghan civilians at the hands of the occupation forces. We pointed out that the Taliban and Osama bin Laden were largely the creations of massive CIA intervention in Afghanistan during the 1980s, and that their rivals for power were equally pro‑imperialist and reactionary, a view which was confirmed by the corrupt, brutal record of the Karzai warlord regime in Kabul.

     Despite an unrelenting militarist propaganda campaign, a solid majority of Canadians have consistently agreed that Canada's military forces should be withdrawn from Afghanistan. This majority opinion has been ignored, first by the Liberal government which launched the Kandahar military mission, and then by the Harper Tories. Even after 2006, when the three opposition parties in Parliament all expressed support for an early return of the troops, partisan bickering blocked any serious attempt to compel the Harper government to bring a quick end to Kandahar mission.

     That deadly mission has now officially ended, only to be replaced by deployment of 1000‑plus Canadian troops for so‑called "training" of Afghan military and police forces. But the 2014 date for this extension remains open‑ended and vague, and Canadian troops will be stationed across the country, not just in Kabul as originally promised. Clearly, Canada remains one of the military powers actively engaged in a combat role in Afghanistan.

     The costs of this imperialist blunder have been enormous, from the huge numbers of deaths among the Afghan people themselves, to the 157 deaths of Canadians. Well over $2 billion has been wasted by the Canadian military, and there have been increasing political pressures to silence dissent against the war. Canadian forces have been involved in the abuse of prisoners, and the Harper Tories have done their best to block public scrutiny of such scandals. Despite media reports of new hospitals, clinics and schools supposedly built in Afghanistan with the assistance of the Canadian military, there is little to show on the ground in terms of real infrastructure. Claims that millions of Afghan girls receive an education thanks to the occupation have been based on wildly-inflated figures.

     Just a significantly, the war in Afghanistan has been used to craft a wider international role for NATO. Canada's participation in Afghanistan and Haiti has been escalated into an openly expansionist foreign policy doctrine, aimed at bringing this country into new wars such as the current illegal NATO intervention in Libya. This militarist policy, including massive purchases of new fighter‑bombers and a hugely expanded navy, will cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $500 billion over the next two decades.

     The tenth anniversary of the October 2001 aggression is a time to renew calls from all anti‑war and democratic forces in Canada to end our country's disastrous military role in Afghanistan. We demand: Bring all the troops home now! Support peaceful and political solutions to the crisis in Afghanistan! No more imperialist wars! Slash military spending by 75% ‑ fund civilian needs, not military profiteers! Canada out of NATO ‑ close Canadian military bases overseas!

(The above article is from the September 16-31, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)