Forward Into The Past: US War Aims VIJAY PRASHAD
< http://www.outlookindia.com > [snip] The US Left needs to speak out not only against the war, but also against the slowly formulated war aims, and certainly against the restoration of "stability" in the name of capital. The Northern Alliance is not "at least better" than the Taliban, as liberals want to believe: they are as bad for the people of Afghanistan.
What are the alternatives? The mujahidin, mainly Hikmityar's crew, have killed much of the intelligentsia during its reign of terror in the 1990s, and it led to the exile of a huge number of reasonable Afghans, many of whom took shelter in New Delhi (and do not wish to return to a place that has given their families such nightmares). Organized refugee groups, like RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), the Afghan Women's Network, and other such people's organizations have been at work for years trying to restart a progressive dynamic among Afghan refugees, but also to spill over into the besieged country. These groups will not be party to the types of corrupt capitalist deals already being worked out in Roman suburbs and in Uzbekistan: a moratorium on the exploitation of Afghanistan is perhaps in order, with the profits from a potential natural gas pipeline drawn into the redevelopment of the country's productive base and democratic institutions rather than toward Unocal or Bridas. These are our fights, against the war aims of the US and their new, yet old, allies, but in support of those popular agencies that oppose the Taliban from within the contradictions of Afghan life, both in diaspora and at home. It is time to move on the contradictions.
(Vijay Prashad is Associate Professor and Director, International Studies Program, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, USA)