By Tariq Ali
November 17, 2008
Afghanistan has been almost continuously at war for thirty years, longer than both World Wars and the American war in Vietnam combined. Each occupation of the country has mimicked its predecessor. A tiny interval between wars saw the imposition of a malignant social order, the Taliban, with the help of the Pakistani military and the late Benazir Bhutto, the prime minister who approved the Taliban takeover in Kabul.
Over the last two years, the US/NATO occupation of that country has run into serious military problems. Given a severe global economic crisis and the election of a new American president--a man separated in style, intellect and temperament from his predecessor--the possibility of a serious discussion about an exit strategy from the Afghan disaster hovers on the horizon. The predicament the United States and its allies find themselves in is not an inescapable one, but a change in policy, if it is to matter, cannot be of the cosmetic variety.
Can someone remind Peacenik what Canada is doing in Afghanistan. Peacenik really hopes that the one silver lining of the current financial crisis is that no one will be able the afford to fight in these crazy wars. What is more important to Canadians? Helping Bush in Afghanistan or having universal health care and a viable social safety net? Peacenik knows where the Harper government stands.
