The French State has chosen military escalation in Afghanistan. Not only will it increase its manpower on the ground, which will increase to 2,700 soldiers this summer up from the current figure of 1,700, but it will be sending a battalion of 700 soldiers to a combat zone of much more intensity than the area of Kabul where most of the French task force is currently concentrated. —- Why has Sarkozy made this decision? —- It is certainly not at the request of the Afghani people, the majority of whom support the withdrawal of the occupying troops. Neither is it in order to defend non-existent democratic freedoms. The Afghan government is made up “warlords” who are fighting over the international aid and who collect their share of all the trafficking. All the arguments which are called upon officially to justify the Western military presence are bare-faced lies.

For example, the defence of women’s rights from the supporters of the “right to humanitarian intervention”. For Afghani women, the results of the occupation are nothing short of tragic: 88% illiteracy among women, 60% of marriages are forced marriages, 1 out of 9 women die after giving birth. Today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where the rate of suicide among women is higher than among men.

Then there are the promises of economic development which has not been forthcoming. The only sector which thrives is that of opium production and its transformation into heroin.

Of course, Sarkozy will not for one moment have thought about the Afghani men and women in making this decision. For him the only thing which counts is osmosis with the war-mongering policy of Bush with whom he shares the dream of Western hegemony over the planet and its resources. Yesterday it was the creation of a hard line against Iran, today it is the sending of reinforcements to the Afghan mud pit, tomorrow maybe complete rehabilitation within NATO.

Alternative Libertaire demands the immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan of French and NATO occupation troops. The money being spent on war expeditions to Asia and Africa must be used in socially useful sectors, like healthcare and education. We call for a mobilization against imperialism and against the criminal ideology of the “clash of civilizations”.

Alternative Libertaire
13 April 2008

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