The new puppet fascist regime and US imperialism�s strategic interests in Afghanistan
This November, after Taliban and al Qaeda forces deserted Afghanistan�s cities, US and United Kingdom (UK) imperialism placed Rabbani, leader of the Northern Alliance, as acting head. The US and UK want to use the new government to protect their strategic interests in Afghanistan and Central Asia. At the same time, using the pretext of "going after bin Laden", the US has positioned 1,500 regular troops inside Afghanistan to prop up the new regime. The UK also plans to deploy about 5,000 troops inside Afghanistan, apart from American and British special forces already in the country. Russia has also sent a few hundred troops to Afghanistan under the guise of conducting "humanitarian work".
Conditions remain unstable because of continuing ethnic strife which potentially endangers US strategic interests in Afghanistan. To render legitimacy and expand the coalition behind the new regime and to make it an effective instrument of imperialism, the US has sponsored a conference of various anti-Taliban forces in Germany. The conference is being bandied about as the instrument of unity among diverse ethnic groups in Afghanistan. But unity is hard to build especially with the difficult time the US and UK are having in getting a leader with the ability to influence and lead the Pashtun tribe. This tribe, the largest in Afghanistan, is the Taliban�s base.
REAL INTENTIONS. In partnership with the UK, US imperialism launched a "war against terrorism" in an effort to impose its economic, political and military hegemony over Afghanistan. Widespread bombing coupled with instigation of ethnic or religious war was also the strategy used by the US in its Balkan and Middle East wars. The US uses the continuing pursuit of Osama bin Laden (and its failure to catch or kill him) to justify its maintenance of troops in Afghanistan. US and UK imperialism have also positioned their troops in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
By placing their own puppet and fascist government in Afghanistan, US and UK imperialism are securing the country as a base from which to extend their influence and control in Central Asia and its rich oil resources. This region is called the "new Middle East" because here could be found -- along the coast of the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus area -- the richest untapped oil reserves in the world. From here, the US will be able to further monopolize the delivery of oil and gas through a pipeline extending from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and other parts of Asia. The US currently has a monopoly of the Central Asia-Turkey-Mediterranean route for the supply of gas and oil to Europe and other parts of Asia. With its control of Afghanistan, the US will have a new and exclusive oil route from Central Asia, enabling it to deliver oil to other parts of Asia more easily and cheaply via the Indian Ocean. This will completely preempt Russia, China and Iran�s long-standing plans to build their own pipelines from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and other parts of Asia. The US intends to keep European and Asian markets dependent on the US for their oil needs.
Even now, imperialist troops are already strategically positioned to begin and secure the pipeline-laying project. The pipeline will start from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, pass through Afghanistan, and extend to Pakistan and India. American monopoly corporations have already invested up to $30 billion dollars for the right to monopolize the extraction, processing and supply of oil from Central Asia.
But other European and Asian powers also have interests in Afghanistan.
Russia has endorsed the "antiterrorism" war in exchange for the US� withdrawal of support to Islamic groups in Chechnya that have long been fighting Russia. Nevertheless, Russia is prepared to counter any plan by the US and UK to completely monopolize oil supplies from Central Asia. For a much longer period in history, this region of the world has formed part of the Russian empire and remains an object of Russia�s interest.
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