The Conundrum of Afghanistan

In contemporary Afghanistan, we have a government of religious fanatical warlords fighting the Taliban, which is fueled by a very similar religious fanaticism. No matter who wins, the Afghan people will be ruled by religious fanatics. So, there are two questions. Why is the US government engaged in such a war, especially when it appears that the two groups of religious fanatics are quite capable of uniting? The second question is how did things come to this pass?

Once upon a time, in 1979, Afghanistan had a secular government trying to introduce reforms which would free women from traditional oppression, spread education, etc. That government was far from perfect and probably pursued those objectives in a heavyhanded way which helped unite opposition. Threatened by that opposition, the secular government called on their neighbor, the Soviet Union, to help keep them in power. The Soviet Union came to their aid in an even more heavyhanded manner and found itself in a disastrous war. Meanwhile, the United States armed and trained religious fanatics to fight the government and its Soviet backers.

So, the US government helped eliminate the most prominent secular forces and greatly strengthened the forces of religious fanaticism which became the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other groups. Then the US government selected a group of warlords and tried to impose them on a population which likely would prefer to live in a secular state, considering that that is who they elected long ago.

If any or all of this strikes you as insane, you are correct. Any serious analysis of the US war in Afghanistan leads to the conclusion that it was irrational to begin it and it is irrational to continue it. Even from the standpoint of US imperial and finance capital objectives, it is a lose-lose situation.

Such a war has a momentum of its own. Once it squanders lives, resources, money on such a misguided venture, a government has to be forced to abandon it. It will never do it simply by coming to its senses. Only a strong peace movement, like the one which helped the Vietnamese end that war, can do that.