On August 21, US President Trump announced the strategy his government will pursue towards Afghanistan and South Asia. Trump declared that the US would not withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, unlike what was promised by his predecessor Barack Obama. On the contrary, the US would escalate its military intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to achieve “victory” over the Taliban and various other forces.
On August 21, US President Trump announced the strategy his government will pursue towards Afghanistan and South Asia.
Trump declared that the US would not withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, unlike what was promised by his predecessor Barack Obama. On the contrary, the US would escalate its military intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to achieve “victory” over the Taliban and various other forces.
In his speech, the US president justified this from the stand point of the strategic aim of US imperialism in the region.
According to Trump, a military withdrawal from Afghanistan would immediately lead to the Taliban and other groups overthrowing the present Afghan regime in Kabul.
Accusing Pakistan of providing safe haven to various terrorist groups that were killing American forces in Afghanistan, the US president openly threatened Pakistan if it did not take action against these groups.
The US President underlined the importance of the military strategic alliance with India. He declared that India was a valued partner of the US not only in Afghanistan, but in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.
The US strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia is diabolical.
President Trump justified escalation of military intervention in Afghanistan and Pakistan, accusing these countries of harboring 20 terrorist groups that he claimed threatened the US. The US wants to cover up the truth that over the past three decades, it is US imperialism that has set up, trained, and armed numerous terrorist groups in these and other countries as part of its strategy for world domination. These terrorist groups have wreaked havoc in various countries of the world. Sixteen years after the invasion of Afghanistan and the launching by the US and its allies of the “war against terrorism”, people around the world are coming to the conclusion that the US is the biggest sponsor of terrorism on the world scale.
The US has no intention of leaving Afghanistan and letting the people of Afghanistan decide their own future free from foreign interference. It wants to use Afghanistan as a base to destabilize and threaten the countries of the region including Pakistan, Iran, Russia, the Central Asian Republics and China. Towards this end, it is preparing to escalate its military presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The people of Pakistan are caught in a terrible situation. Its ruling circles have allowed the US imperialists to use military bases in Pakistan to invade and occupy Afghanistan. This has aroused the anger and opposition of the people, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The patriotic forces in Afghanistan, who are fighting the US occupation forces and the puppet regime, enjoy support amongst the people of Pakistan. This cannot be equated with support for terrorism, as the US alleges.
Pakistan itself has been the victim of numerous terrorist attacks. The government of Pakistan claims that these attacks originate from across the border in Afghanistan. It ascribes these attacks to terrorist groups set up in Afghanistan allegedly sponsored by India. It must be noted that the Indian government has been building close relations with successive Afghan governments over the past decade. These include training the Afghan Army.
The US imperialists have been deliberately playing India and Pakistan against each other in order to advance their strategic aim in Asia. Towards this end, they have used the services of terrorist groups they themselves have created. Thus the terrorist groups which are based in Afghanistan and carry out attacks in Pakistan cannot flourish, without the support of the US occupation forces. Similarly, the hand of the US lies behind many terrorist actions in India.
Simultaneously, the US has deliberately stoked the ambitions of the ruling class of both India and Pakistan towards Afghanistan. The Indian ruling class wants a regime in Afghanistan which will serve its strategic interests of encircling Pakistan. Pakistan wants a regime in Afghanistan which will be more closely aligned to itself. Both the Indian and Pakistani states have played the game of US imperialism.
At the present time, US imperialism is deliberately fanning the ambitions of the Indian ruling class towards China and South East Asia, as part of its strategy to encircle China and establish its domination over Asia. Towards this end, it is providing India with sophisticated military hardware, and enticing it towards a military strategic alliance in the Indo Pacific region. The Indian ruling class is extremely excited by this prospect. The danger of India being drawn into a reactionary war with China and Pakistan, for the sake of the imperialist ambitions of the Indian ruling class, is growing.
The people and government of Pakistan have angrily denounced the open threat to their sovereignty issued by the US President. The people of Pakistan are questioning the role of their successive governments in playing the US game in Afghanistan and the region over the past several decades.
The people of Afghanistan want the US troops to get out of their country. But the Indian state wants the US military occupation to continue, in order to advance its own interests in that country in contention with Pakistan. The government of India has welcomed the US plan to escalate its military presence in Afghanistan as well as its threats against Pakistan. This is extremely shortsighted and dangerous. The working class and people of India must not allow the ruling class to embroil India in the diabolical US strategy for establishing its domination over Asia. US imperialism constitutes the main threat to the freedom and sovereignty of all countries and peoples of Asia. The bitter experience of Pakistan shows that a military strategic alliance with US imperialism is extremely dangerous for our people.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the US imperialist strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia as directed against sovereignty of all countries, and against peace in Asia. We must resolutely oppose India’s participation in this diabolical strategy.