Green Party: troops Out of Afghanistan

When our armed forces are sent into harm's way, to kill, to die, maybe to maim or be maimed, then there should be no doubt that the mission they are sent on is both moral and legal.  

Recently we have seen a surge in Afghanistan (Obama sent in 21,000) and a surge in British deaths. But what exactly are they killing and dying for?

The cause of war in Afghanistan is different from Iraq. The Security Council resolution taking on terrorism dates from Sept. 12th 2001, directly after the attacks of 9/11 and a knee-jerk response to it. Osama bin Laden was responsible, we were told, his Al Qa'ida was behind it and the Taliban were harbouring them all. 

But now we know that Afghanistan was the second choice: immediately after 9/11 the Bush Administration wanted to blame Iraq and launch a war against them (something they'd planned for many years and was their top priority on "election" in 2000).

So what is the evidence linking Osama bin Laden and Al Qa'ida with 9/11? America wanted the Taliban government to hand over Bin Laden. The Taliban were quite prepared to do this on production of good evidence - but this was the wrong story and hardly reported. However, neither has the promised evidence materialised. Anything that's there is sketchy at best, even tying lead hijackers to bin Laden calls for creative thinking. In 2006 the FBI went on record as not wanting bin Laden for 9/11 as there was no hard evidence. But this was not what America was telling the world in September and October 2001. Quite the opposite. 

You might think the 19 hijackers were Afghans but none of them were. 11 of them were Saudi but don't hold your breath for us to start a war there. Moreover, given the mendacity of the American (and British) government over Iraq what makes us think we've been told anything like the truth about 9/11? There are plenty of architects, engineers, pilots, family members of victims, the American Green Party, still calling for a new, independent investigation of events that day. 

So where are we now 8 years on?

We have got rid of the Taliban government. Many people reckon this a good thing: they cut people's heads off, would beat women in the street for improper attire, and as Muslim fundamentalists were very different from our post-Christian secular society. However, they were the government and had taken charge after years of battling the Russians and years of battling the warlords (many now in power) in a country very difficult to rule (see our first invasion in 1838). In late 2000 they issued a fatwa against opium and production fell to almost zero by summer 2001. Western propaganda claimed they had hidden it and stockpiled it. They hadn't. Under them, Afghanistan had in fact peace, if a harsh peace, for a few years. Now many claim that even the position of women is worse with routine rapes and kidnappings of women and girls for sex slavery among the warlords.

We have to be completely justified when we launch a war these days. It's not like a hundred years ago when you just lined up in trenches and shot the hell out of each other. Today warfare typically means 90% civilian casualties. Knee-jerk reactions to terrorist incidents, blaming entier countries when individuals or small groups may be reponsicbile is nto goofd enough. The fact that Blair lied us into war in Iraq and that America is still conning us for wider strategic reasons in Afghanistan means that the Army is still lions led by donkeys.

And now more soldiers have died in Afghanistan than have died in Iraq.

Martin Deane

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Martin Deane is chair of Hull and East Riding Green Party.

Francis Boyle article, (Professor of Law, University of Illinois, author of Foundations of World Order)