Afghanistan - Reprising Disaster

Official spokespersons for the Bush government have repeatedly told the American public that things are going well in Afghanistan. The "coalition," made up of US and NATO soldiers, is keeping the Taliban in check, providing security for a government which is somewhat less than democratic, helping to open schools, and overall -- well, except for the killing of schoolteachers and villagers and women who dare attend the opened schools - it's not a bad picture.

Oh, we forgot to mention the soldiers who have been killed, and their families, and their friends.


Why are we in Afghanistan? To kill Osama? I don't think so. We haven't even been looking for Osama! Ask the next person you meet on the street why our soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan. I would guess he/she won't have a clue.

In any case, we haven't really worried about Osama. We've been too busy killing people for non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That whole business got Osama really pissed, so he sent his al-Qaeda terrorists to cause trouble in Iraq (where they weren't in residence before the Bush invasion).

One of the things you can be sure about the Bush government is that those involved learn nothing from history, or from their own mistakes. Actually, according to Bush, the Bush government does not make mistakes.


Anyone with a modest knowledge of Middle Eastern history or a modicum of common sense would know that military action against insurgent forces in Afghanistan is an act of insanity. Notice how the words "knowledge" and "common sense" automatically eliminates G.W. Bush and cohorts.

In Afghanistan these days, the insurgents are resurgent. Journalists speak of "the Taliban's growing strength," and point to the June jailbreak which freed 886 prisoners, the infiltration of a "strategic" valley near Kandahar, and the "pace of attacks" by the Taliban which is up by 40 percent this year.

In the past two months, more U.S. and NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq!

What will really make you glad you got out of bed today is the fact that we have no strategy for success in Afghanistan!


In the 20th century, many countries felt it was their right to meddle in Afghan affairs. Most of them learned quickly such meddling was a serious mistake. Before Russia became Russia again, and our sort-of friend, Russia plus other countries were called the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics - the Soviet Union.

On August 7, 1978, the Soviet Union saw fit to invade Afghanistan using its 40th Army as the spearhead. The invasion was an unmitigated disaster and has since been nicknamed the Soviet's "Vietnam War." But the Soviets, like the Bush government, often fail to learn from their mistakes.

Russian involvement in Afghanistan goes back to the 19th century, to the Tsarist expansion launched in opposition to Britain's interests in the region. Between the years 1955 to 1978, the Soviet Union sent "billions in economic and military aid ... to Afghanistan."

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, vicious political infighting was going on. King Mohammad Azhir Shah ruled from 1933 to 1973. During this time, an opposition Marxist party, the PDPA, continued to grow in strength. In 1973, a former prime minister by name of Daoud took over "in an almost bloodless coup." He ended the monarchy but was stymied at other reforms by the PDPA.

"On April 17, 1978, the Agfhan Army, which had been sympathetic to the PDPA cause, overthrew and executed Daoud along with members of his family." The Secretary General of the PDPA , Nur Muhammad Taraki, became president of the Revolutional Council and Prime Minister of the rather inaptly named "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan."

But the government remained divided and civil war ensued by the middle of 1978. A "palace shootout" in September 1979 ended in Deputy Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin grabbing power. Amin immediately "moved against his opponents in the PDPA and the growing rebellion."

If this seems rather confusing, it is. And it gets worse


The Soviets, as far back as 1919, began to send various forms of aid -- gold rubles, small arms, ammo, and some planes -- to support Afghan resistance against the British. That type of involvement continued until finally, in 1978, the Soviets invaded to try to put things right from their perspective.

That invasion led to a nine-year disaster that was, some think, instrumental in the final breakdown of the USSR. The Soviets did much damage, but were unable to to crush the mujahideen insurgents, who relied on sabotage, land mines and various terrorists acts, and then fled into the mountains.

The mujahideen knocked out bridges, closed major roads, attacked convoys, disrupted the electrical power system and industrial production, went after police stations, government buildings, movie theaters, as well as Soviet military posts and air bases.

About 620,000 Soviet soldiers were involved in the Afghan war (although only about 80-104,000 were in the country at any one time). They lost a total of over 14,000 people as well as 470,000 sick and wounded. They Soviet military arsenal was also devastated.

Over one million Afghans were killed and 5 million Afghans fled the country. "In the 1980s, one of every two refugees in the world was an Afghan." The war also left 1.2 million Afghans disabled and 3 million maimed or wounded (the latter mostly noncombatants.)

By mid-1987, the Soviets said they had "had it," and would begin bringing its troops home. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi was chosen to lead what was called the "Interim Islamic State of Afghanistan." Mojaddedi met with George H.W. Bush (Bush I) which was considered "a diplomatic victory for the Afghan resistance."


During the Soviet/Afghan war, the U.S. was very involved in supplying aid to the mujahideen. It began in 1981 under President Reagan, most of which was shuffled through Pakistan by the efforts of Charlie Wilson, a Texas congressman and the CIA (you know, to keep the whole business from the prying eyes of the public and Congress.)

Other countries were also involved in supplying aid to the rebels, including Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and China. In and amongst this aid were US-made FIM-92 Stinger and anti-aircraft missile systems which were used to shoot down Soviet Air Force planes.

The U.S. via the CIA became even more deeply involved as the war dragged on. The director of the CIA, William Casey gave orders to begin programs "for training Afghans in techniques such as car bombs and assassinations," as well as how to instigate raids into the USSR itself.

(Such techniques, of course, along with the weapons provided by the US, have been turned around and used on our own soldiers in the current civil war.)

Very involved in the mujahideen was a man named Osama bin Laden, who had left a life of wealth and luxury in Saudi Arabia to help fight the Soviets. While he may have actually fought in a battle, his main role was moving money around (including some of his own funds) and providing logistical support to the anti-Soviet fighters.

Rumors abound that the CIA was directly involved in working with bin Laden, but the CIA denies this. Really. I think in spy-speak that's called "disinformation."


When the Soviets left, the civil war continued.


The civil war continues today. Only now, in spite of the Soviet lesson, United States soldiers along with NATO troops are dying.

Nothing much changes. Just the leaders, who seem to be eternally stupid, eternally greedy for power or oil or both, eternally war-mongers.

It is unlikely that this situation will ever change. There are just too many people involved for whom war is a money-making operation. Our own Pentagon and Defense Department and all of their subsidiaries who make weapons and the machinery of war will never find peace to be "normal" or satisfactory.

Peace, you see, means they go out of business. War is their business. And under the Bush government, war is forever.

Praise god and pass the ammunition, for we're "soldiers of the cross," we are the saints marching into the valley of death.