FT-CI

Middle East

Afghanistan: Obama’s war in crisis

25/06/2010

One year after his appointment to the command of the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, General McChrystal was fired by President Obama and replaced by General David Petraeus, current Commander of the US Central Command.

The removal of McChrystal, which occurred after the publication of a long article in Rolling Stone magazine, with explosive and offensive statements by McChrystal and his closest coworkers in the command of operations in Afghanistan, against practically the entire national security team, Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Advisor James Jones (described as a "clown)," Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, and even Obama himself.

Although the article does not express strategic differences, what is clear is that for the military, this is an unwinnable war, and that "the only way to win in Afghanistan is to redefine failure as victory" (Washington Post, June 23).

The importance of the event led local media to compare the situation to the removal of General MacArthur, when he announced his differences with President Truman during the Korean War, sixty years ago.

The shocking tone of the statements precipitated McChrystal’s fall and exposed the profound crisis the military occupation of Afghanistan is going through; Afghanistan has turned into the longest war in US history, longer even than the war in Vietnam.

An unsuccessful strategy

The discussions that preceded the new strategy for Afghanistan exposed the profound differences between the White House and the Pentagon, under the command of Robert Gates, over the conduct of the war.

In December 2009, Obama adopted McChrystal’s "counterinsurgency" strategy: he ordered the sending of 30,000 additional soldiers (bringing the number of US soldiers in Afghanistan to more than 100,000, in addition to some 50,000 from other NATO countries and mercenaries) and gave his backing to the government of Karzai — who had already lost Washington’s favor — which emerged from a scandalous electoral fraud. In exchange, he promised the military command a review of this strategy in December 2010 and beginning the withdrawal of troops in July 2011.

In addition, Obama’s and McChrystal’s strategy provided for a qualitative involvement of Pakistan to fight the Taliban in the border region, and a political plan of strengthening the corrupt government of Karzai, with whom McChrystal had built excellent relations, to the extent of nominating members of his cabinet and removing the Taliban from the provinces of the south and establishing governments that are puppets of the occupation forces.

The reconquest of the city of Marja in Helmand Province, that was supposedly going to be the first battle of this new experiment, ended in a disaster, such that McChrystal described it as a "bleeding ulcer" for the war. This small city of scarcely 35,000 inhabitants, was invaded in the middle of February by 15,000 soldiers of ISAF. But, in spite of that supersaturation and combat that lasted for months, it was impossible for the occupation troops to impose a government of their own and prevent the return of the Taliban.

The high number of casualties — 34 among NATO and US troops — in just the first days of June, led to postponing the attempt to capture Kandahar, in the hands of the Taliban, at least until September.

On the political level, in spite of the fact that the Obama administration agreed to support Karzai’s government, Karzai does not trust the United States to be able to win the war and has decided to continue his policy of negotiation with the Taliban. Karzai’s last defiant gesture was the dismissal of the two most openly pro-American ministers in the area of defense, who had come to the cabinet at McChrystal’s suggestion.

The Pentagon tried to conceal so much bad news by announcing the discovery of mineral deposits with a value of "one billion dollars," seeking an economic and strategic justification for the war. However, the "news" is arriving with some delay, bearing in mind the investments by Russia, India and mainly China in the Afghan mining industry, which is why they keep good relations with Karzai’s government.

Resistance

The crisis in the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan shows that what the NATO troops must confront are not deranged terrorists, but a widespread national resistance against occupation troops, in spite of the completely reactionary character of the Taliban.

In the United States, Obama’s war is becoming increasingly unpopular. According to a Washington Post opinion poll, opposition to the war has already reached a majority of 53% of the US population, which, while suffering an historic rate of unemployment, sees that Obama’s administration will spend almost a billion dollars to pursue its imperialist aims.

Just like in Vietnam, Obama’s "good war" is turning into a nightmare for US imperialism.

Related articles

No hay comentarios a esta nota

Newspaper

  • PTS (Argentina)

  • Actualidad Nacional

    MTS (México)

  • EDITORIAL

    LTS (Venezuela)

  • DOSSIER : Leur démocratie et la nôtre

    CCR NPA (Francia)

  • ContraCorriente Nro42 Suplemento Especial

    Clase contra Clase (Estado Español)

  • Movimento Operário

    MRT (Brasil)

  • LOR-CI (Bolivia) Bolivia Liga Obrera Revolucionaria - Cuarta Internacional Palabra Obrera Abril-Mayo Año 2014 

Ante la entrega de nuestros sindicatos al gobierno

1° de Mayo

Reagrupar y defender la independencia política de los trabajadores Abril-Mayo de 2014 Por derecha y por izquierda

La proimperialista Ley Minera del MAS en la picota

    LOR-CI (Bolivia)

  • PTR (Chile) chile Partido de Trabajadores Revolucionarios Clase contra Clase 

En las recientes elecciones presidenciales, Bachelet alcanzó el 47% de los votos, y Matthei el 25%: deberán pasar a segunda vuelta. La participación electoral fue de solo el 50%. La votación de Bachelet, representa apenas el 22% del total de votantes. 

¿Pero se podrá avanzar en las reformas (cosméticas) anunciadas en su programa? Y en caso de poder hacerlo, ¿serán tales como se esperan en “la calle”? Editorial El Gobierno, el Parlamento y la calle

    PTR (Chile)

  • RIO (Alemania) RIO (Alemania) Revolutionäre Internationalistische Organisation Klasse gegen Klasse 

Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

Die Europäische Union präsentiert sich als Vereinigung Europas. Doch diese imperialistische Allianz hilft dem deutschen Kapital, andere Teile Europas und der Welt zu unterwerfen. MarxistInnen kämpfen für die Vereinigten Sozialistischen Staaten von Europa! 

Widerstand im Spanischen Staat 

Am 15. Mai 2011 begannen Jugendliche im Spanischen Staat, öffentliche Plätze zu besetzen. Drei Jahre später, am 22. März 2014, demonstrierten Hunderttausende in Madrid. Was hat sich in diesen drei Jahren verändert? Editorial Nieder mit der EU des Kapitals!

    RIO (Alemania)

  • Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica) Costa Rica LRS En Clave Revolucionaria Noviembre Año 2013 N° 25 

Los cuatro años de gobierno de Laura Chinchilla han estado marcados por la retórica “nacionalista” en relación a Nicaragua: en la primera parte de su mandato prácticamente todo su “plan de gobierno” se centró en la “defensa” de la llamada Isla Calero, para posteriormente, en la etapa final de su administración, centrar su discurso en la “defensa” del conjunto de la provincia de Guanacaste que reclama el gobierno de Daniel Ortega como propia. Solo los abundantes escándalos de corrupción, relacionados con la Autopista San José-Caldera, los casos de ministros que no pagaban impuestos, así como el robo a mansalva durante los trabajos de construcción de la Trocha Fronteriza 1856 le pusieron límite a la retórica del equipo de gobierno, que claramente apostó a rivalizar con el vecino país del norte para encubrir sus negocios al amparo del Estado. martes, 19 de noviembre de 2013 Chovinismo y militarismo en Costa Rica bajo el paraguas del conflicto fronterizo con Nicaragua

    Liga de la Revolución Socialista (LRS - Costa Rica)

  • Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay) Uruguay Grupo de la FT-CI Estrategia Revolucionaria 

El año que termina estuvo signado por la mayor conflictividad laboral en más de 15 años. Si bien finalmente la mayoría de los grupos en la negociación salarial parecen llegar a un acuerdo (aún falta cerrar metalúrgicos y otros menos importantes), los mismos son un buen final para el gobierno, ya que, gracias a sus maniobras (y las de la burocracia sindical) pudieron encausar la discusión dentro de los marcos del tope salarial estipulado por el Poder Ejecutivo, utilizando la movilización controlada en los marcos salariales como factor de presión ante las patronales más duras que pujaban por el “0%” de aumento. Entre la lucha de clases, la represión, y las discusiones de los de arriba Construyamos una alternativa revolucionaria para los trabajadores y la juventud

    Grupo de la FT-CI (Uruguay)