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Afghanistan has joined the ever growing ranks of countries forcibly thrown into desperate humanitarian crises following U.S./NATO wars now relegated to the sidelines as the latest crisis instigated by the West’s imperial aggression takes the spotlight. The blatant imperial theft of Afghan wealth, like what occurred with Iraq, Libya, and others before them, is old news now. As, too, are reports of Afghans, like others before them, being driven by hunger to sell their organs and their children.
Images of Ukrainian people fleeing violence are now forefronted to manipulate the public into supporting another war, yet another massive infusion to the arms industry, a welcomed windfall for both U.S. and European corporations following the loss of their trillion-dollar Afghanistan trough.
Ukrainians are currently the West’s favorite refugees, a position Afghans held momentarily just months ago. Indeed, the underlying white supremacy enabling U.S. imperial wars has come out in the open as the “civilized” recoil in horror at the sight of the “relatively civilized”—meaning whiter—people forced from their homes by bombings. They clamor to welcome them into their homes. Yet, despite these moments in the spotlight, the reality for the majority of refugees of U.S. imperial wars is anything but welcoming. Afghans “rescued” by the United States—only just granted “protected status” by Biden—are insignificant in number, a selective emigration facilitated to siphon off those with the expertise to help rebuild Afghanistan. Most of the millions forced to flee their homes join the tens of millions of other refugees of U.S./NATO wars languishing in camps, struggling under inhumane conditions to gain asylum elsewhere, facing constant threat of deportation, and sometimes told to go back to their sweatshops and to their decimated countries.
The strategic importance of Afghanistan as a potential source of profit, as well as a base from which to destabilize its neighbors, didn’t end when U.S. forces were driven out. The United States’ tactical use of starvation has effectively disciplined the Taliban and reduced the country to depend on Western forces. Now, the United States shows signs of moving to maintain its influence within the country, as it eases sanctions to allow limited Taliban involvement in controlled financial activity.
In tandem, the UN, while continuing to call for “humanitarian hand-outs” and organizing virtual pledge drives—positioning the United States in the role of saving the very people it impoverished—is now calling for more “engagement” with the Taliban. This comes while continuing to deny UN representation to Afghanistan and extending the UN’s direct involvement in Afghan governance for another year. These UN mandates, particularly military mandates, have long been effective tools of U.S. imperialism, used most vividly and violently in Haiti.
Western intelligence claims a “renewed surge of resistance” to the Taliban as Afghans continue to suffer terror attacks, most attributed to ISIS-K, a group that has been linked to Western intelligence. Reports have emerged that former U.S.-trained Afghan intelligence and elite military forces have joined ISIS-K forces.
Terror has long been a tool the United States uses to disable countries resistant to Western hegemony, as it is presently manifesting in different forms in Ukraine. ISIS-K may be disrupting Afghan relations with neighbors such as China, Russia and Pakistan, and potentially interfering with investment and Eurasian integration.
Yet, with typical hubris, the U.S. ruling elites seem unable to differentiate between small countries weakened by their relentless aggression and large economic and military powers with the resources to fight back. Efforts to develop an alternative to the U.S. dollar-based economic system that has held much of the world hostage appear to be accelerating as the United States has stepped up its confrontation with China and Russia. More and more countries are failing to step in line, more and more looking for alternative trade relationships. The U.S. ruling class now appears to be shooting itself in the very booted foot they’ve had on the collective necks of peoples across the world, welcome news for the oppressed everywhere.
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