Raja G Mujtaba
America is intensifying its war efforts in Afghanistan, that too in a desperate mood. It feels that like USSR she will also lick the dust if it does not find a way out with honour. The NATO members have become reluctant to inject any more troops into the theatre. Countries like the UK etc. want to extricate their troops; they have already suffered more casualties than what they suffered in Iraq.
America following the pattern of Vietnam, is trying to expand the theatre of operation into other countries. There is none other where it can expand effectively other than Pakistan. America as a change in its strategy, will not attack Iran, but is likely to induct its support to threaten Saudi Arabia by stirring the Shiah-Sunni strife. This would force the Saudis to allow the US to have more bases within the Kingdom.
The escalation in Pakistan is a direct result of that policy. To further escalate it, on Wednesday President Barack Obama has confirmed General Stanley McChrystal as new commander for the widening war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has been given extraordinary powers to assemble his own staff.
America is here in Afghanistan not for the reason that Al-Qaida attacked on 9-11, they are here for some deeper objectives. 9-11 was a ploy; let there be independent commission to investigate, the truth will be established. America invaded Iraq without the resolution of the Security Council to take out weapons of mass destructions which were never to be there. Likewise time would prove that 9-11 was not the act of any Muslim group or country. American objectives are mentioned below thus to achieve those America needed an excuse to capture Afghanistan.
America has multiple objectives in the region, they want to denuclearize Pakistan, contain china and deny it the oil resources of the central Asian states, delink China from Pakistan. Turn Pakistan into a secular state so that the threat of Muslim resurgence is eliminated. Everything escalated when Pakistan signed agreements with China for the development and operation of the Gawadar Port.
The quantum and type of troop buildup is given below. This is significant enough to spell out the future designs of America. To study this, it does not need a genius but a mind that can read the writings on the walls or what the bottom line message is.
The redeployment of the American Forces in Afghanistan is almost in place for another bloody confrontation with 10,000 marines from the North Carolina-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) completing the commencement of their deployment to the volatile province of Helmand over the next several weeks. Obama's electioneering commitment is taking shape in Afghanistan.
An Army Aviation Brigade, with some 100 troop-lift helicopters and gunships, is already operating out of the neighbouring province of Kandahar. In July, the 4,000-strong 5th Stryker Brigade, a mobile unit entirely mounted in armoured Stryker vehicles would join the Aviation Brigade to bolster the force there.
This makes up the bulk of the 21,000 additional troops that Obama has ordered to Afghanistan to suppress the Taliban-led insurgency against the US-led occupation of the country. By the end of the year, the total US force will reach close to 70,000.
NATO countries and other US allies have close to 60,000 troops, with Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia providing the units that are conducting combat operations in the Pashtun majority provinces of southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban are strongest.
In the coming months, the 2nd MEB will be in place for a bloody offensive in Helmand, along with the 5,700 British troops and the US Special Forces already operating in the province. The British troop fatalities in Afghanistan have now reached 166 dead - a figure more than the 165 British troops who lost their lives during the Iraq operation.
The US Stryker Brigade presently under deployment in Kandahar will operate alongside the Canadian Task Force that is struggling to stem the Taliban resilience to evict the occupation forces in the province for the past four years, losing 119 dead and several hundred wounded in the process.
A key objective of this troop reinforcement is to impose a greater authority over the southern provinces before the Afghan presidential election on August 20. Taliban leaders have boycotted the ballot, declaring any vote under foreign occupation to be illegitimate.
Now these additional deployments in Afghanistan to carry out more bloodshed there would certainly weigh heavy on the Pakistan's resources, both military and economic. This is likely to increase the terrorist activity in Pakistan, multiplying the problems manifold since the launch of the operation 'Rahe Raast' in Swat and Malakand divisions.
It is an admitted fact, that after almost a decade of war, the occupation forces and the Karzai's puppet Afghan government have weak control only the major cities and towns of southern Afghanistan. Taliban forces that are poorly equipped hold sway over the rural areas - where most of the population lives.
These invading forces are also seeking to hunt down Islamist Militant Resistance; a nightmare for the US reinforcements. Additionally these troops would also be tasked with confronting the militias that oversee large-scale opium production in southern Afghanistan on behalf of various Afghan warlords and drug syndicates.
Over 8000 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan in 2007 - Helmand alone accounting for more than fifty percent production. A NATO military raid this month on just one of the countless drug factories in the province resulted in the seizure of 5.5 tons of opium and 100 kilograms of refined heroin. Complete eradication of the poppy cultivation along with a de-weaponised society with almost zero crime rate in Afghanistan was a major achievement of the Taliban rule of five years; a fact acknowledged by the world bodies like UNO etc.
For its own interests, for years the US led invading forces ignored the narcotics trade. Now these occupation forces are increasingly alarmed at the relationship between the insurgency and the drug barons. The Taliban are reportedly earning millions of dollars in protection money and taxes that's being used to finance the resistance to the invading forces. The syndicates are also suspected of having links into the highest echelons of the US-backed Afghan government and numerous paid operatives in the US/NATO-trained Afghan Army, police and border guards.
Among the most influential suspected drug barons in Kandahar is Ahmed Wali Karzai - the brother of the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. So with this track record, its evident that America is turning a blind eye to the drug trade only to win over the sympathies of the Afghans. Reading the history, a pit that one creates for the others in that he falls himself. This drug traffic is finding its way into America; also the American troops in Afghanistan are getting addicted to it.
All this being carried out to destabilize the countries of the region. These countries especially, ECO and the GCC must sit together and study the threat perception that's looming large in the area. In doing so, the support of China and Russia must never be lost. But before losing any time, Saudi Arabia must warm up towards Iran and develop a good level of trust. In fact a trilateral agreement of Saudi-Pakistan-Iran would be ideal if the leadership of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia can withstand the American pressure.
Another possibility is that US may unnerve the Saudis to such an extent that they be incited to attack Iran, if that happens, it would be disastrous for the region and the Muslim world.
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