For the cost of deploying one US soldier for one year in Afghanistan it would be possible to build about twenty schools. And the Taliban have not been interfering with schools (even girls schools as long as the teachers are women) which have local support as long as the teachers are women and as long as the text books do not include pictures of the corrupt ex oil executive President Karzai. Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and From Stones to Schools has built schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. None of his schools have been burnt by the Taliban.
There is also a program with support and success called the National Solidarity Program. (NSP) It helps villages build projects they choose, mostly schools, bridges, clinics, irrigation projects. For the cost of deploying one US soldier for a year you could have the NSP in twenty more villages. My friend keeps insisting the US military should be pulled out and money given to build schools, etc which people need. This seems very logical. And to any reasonable person and system it would be.
At the end of the surge there will be around 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Do the maths. How many schools, bridges, clinics etc could the cost of these build.
I am not suggesting that any US regime would carry out such programs but I am making the point, as my friend does, what would be possible with what is presently being spent on the occupation. Of course even if the US regime did carry out such programs they would be ringed around with such conditions to make sure that they were controlled by the US and its stooges and so this in turn would undermine their affect. You cannot control another country and its people indefinitely with the sword. No as my friend's persistent questioning indicates, there is something more going on here.
The mass media such as CNN continually discuss the surge in terms of can it win. It discusses how weak the US is because it has to deal with the utterly corrupt and weak regime of Karzai. But what is winning? Having a non Taliban regime in the country and having no base for outfits such as Bin Laden's. This seems to be their answer. But this would seem to be best achieved by having a locally popular regime in the country and no foreign occupation. The foreign occupation is a major recruiting tool for the Taliban and Bin laden. Yet the US and its allies continue with their occupation. Again it does not seem to make sense.
However, the issue is not so complicated. The occupation and surge are not about the people of Afghanistan and improving their lives, not about ending the vicious oppression of women, after all Saudi Arabia, the great buddy of the US in the region is one of the most vicious in repressing women not to mention it provided the majority of high jackers for 9/11, this is not about going after Bin Laden and his buddies, after all the US worked with him when the Soviet Union was at war in Afghanistan and it worked with him in the Balkans, this is not about any of these objectives or combination of these objectives. This is about US corporate, that is US imperialism's, control of the regions resources and the region itself, control of the Gulf area and Central Asia and standing up against China and Russia.
The US used 9/11, of which some of the US elite at least were aware in advance, as an excuse to invade Iraq. The majority of high jackers came from Saudi Arabia, there was no connection with the Iraq regime. But they invaded Iraq. Why? They wanted to begin their invasion of the whole area by taking on this large country and opening the door to Afghanistan and the Central Asian area. They are still in Iraq with no sign that they are getting ready to get out. Now they are increasing their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and in spite of Obama's speech there is no way they will be out in eighteen months, nor do they have any intention to be. And they are also at war in Pakistan. What is going on here is a brutal military invasion of the region by US imperialism. Their objectives are to secures the resources of Central Asia, secure the region of the Persian gulf, surround China face up to Russia and permanently strengthen their military forces in the entire region. They intend to dig in and stay in and crush any opposition.
This is why building schools, bridges, clinics etc are very secondary on their agenda. What they are interested in is laying doing a permanent military presence in the entire region which they intend to keep in place indefinitely. They and their ally Israel are trying to get themselves together to attack Iran unless that country buckles to all their demands also. What we are witnessing is the invasion and occupation of the entire region by US imperialism. This was the case under Bush and is the case under Obama. Obama, the Democrats, the Republicans are united in their pursuit of war and the objectives of US imperialism.
There is the increasing poverty and hunger in the US itself, there is the mass starvation world wide. Yet what are the sociopaths who run US imperialism doing? They are spending trillions on military spending and wars, they are killing hundreds of millions in these wars, and they condemn hundreds of millions more to starve to death due to their capitalist economic policies which are enforced by their military power. Look at this one simple fact. America's military spending in Afghanistan alone next year will exceed the entire official military budget of every other country in the world. This is a crime against humanity.
Students and working people must unite in the US and internationally to end this savage rotten system of imperialism and capitalism. We must replace it with a Democratic Socialist System. Contact us and let us work together to this end.
Sean.
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