THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM IN AFGHANISTAN

AUDIO

We want to make some observations about the recent collapse of American imperialism in Afghanistan.  It's a history-making moment and we certainly don't plan to sum it up just perfectly here but we need to make a number of points clear.

BIPARTISAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DISASTER IN AFGHANISTAN

First, responsibility for this catastrophic disaster is fully bipartisan. To list all the blunders and stupidities made by American imperialism since the American invasion of 2001 would be an 800 hour lecture which we don't have time for but it's very important to understand that the responsibility of this is fully bipartisan. This calls into question more and more the viability of American imperialism as any kind of model for any people around the world.

THE TALIBAN IS A DECENTRALIZED GROUP OF MILITIAS

Now we're not going to regurgitate all the corporate news articles about this.  We're going to make some points that haven't been made here. The victory of the Taliban was a decentralized victory. As a matter of fact, whoever's running things—and that's not quite clear—actually did a pretty brilliant job because this has been a largely bloodless takeover. If you need to understand what's going on you need to understand that the Taliban is a decentralized collection of militias and what has happened is a decentralized collection of agreements all over Afghanistan to end the war. At least for the time being and work with the Taliban.

Now obviously we are not on the ground in Herat and even if we were we're not sure the various militia leaders on either side would be terribly chatty about what they did or did not agree with that's part of the problem but the Taliban have done it. We must give them credit a brilliant job in handling this.

INCOMPETENCE AND DECEIT ON THE PART OF AMERICA

By contrast the behavior of America has been a study of deceit and just breathtaking levels of incompetence such as Biden statements in July claiming it was out of the question that there would be any imminent collapse. Trump started the deceit by pulling the plug on the American commitment and negotiating behind the back of the so-called allies that we had in Kabul.

Now what Biden did and there's a lot of controversy about whether Biden needed to continue Trump's deal because there's a lot of controversy about whether the Taliban kept it. But what Biden did was virtually 100% certain to pull the rug out from our allies in Afghanistan.  He pulled out the US troops, and most important, he pulled out US Air power and pulled out the technicians keeping the Afghan Air Force in the air.  He did not, for all his talk about the league of democracies, he didn't coordinate with his fellow democracies, infuriating the Germans and the British who then had to race out the door after the US.

So there really was no reason why the government should not cut a deal with the Taliban. Why should they go on a pointless suicide mission in a cause that they had been stabbed in the back for?

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Now where do we go from here?  The US government is so incompetent that it is not clear that the that it will get its act together. If the US government was intelligent— which is sort of like saying if cows could fly—
the US government would adopt an accommodating policy to accept the peace offers issued by the Taliban. The US government would consider reopening the embassy in Kabul and trying to work with the Taliban.  That is the only way to have some kind of viable way out. But we are very skeptical that will happen. So we need to look at what the other most likely scenario is.

THE ENTRANCE OF CHINA INTO AFGHANISTAN

The other most likely scenario here is the entrance of China into Afghanistan. The government in Afghanistan is dependent on foreign aid. It's not a normal government. It's basically an extension of American imperialism. So if the US government is going to start withholding that aid and adopting a very tough line, the Chinese are likely to intervene and replace that cash with theirs and basically negotiate a trade agreement with the Taliban. We think that is probably the most likely scenario.

WILL THIS TURN INTO A DECENTRALIZED MESS?

However, the outlook is very dangerous, because to the contrary of the US propaganda, there is no centralized Taliban. This is a coalition of militias of various reliabilities all around the country and the notion that the government in Kabul will be able to enforce discipline over those militias—we are very skeptical about that. So we think this is going to be a very dangerous situation.

WHAT HAPPENS IN PAKISTAN?

People need to keep an eye on Pakistan because this is a very dangerous situation for Pakistan. A very nervous man right now is Imran Khan in Pakistan because this can give tremendous legitimacy to the Islamic crazies in Pakistan.

WHAT HAPPENS IN TAJIKISTAN?

Another place to watch—which is is of total ignorance to the US is because it stands in between Afghanistan and China—is Tajikistan. And, thanks to the US giving all this aid to Afghanistan, the Taliban is much stronger militarily than they've ever been, thanks to the generosity of US taxpayers so the people in Tajikistan. The government there must be very uneasy. Also, if China were to build a road network to Afghanistan, it would probably run through Tajikistan. There are roads right now but they're not very good.

SEEING THE MACRO-VIEW

The big picture here is a macro ideological view and we we are we are not supporters of the Taliban. We have a very low opinion about a lot of aspects of them. But here's the big picture. They have a religious view of life that in our view is wrong but makes sense. The they have a moral agenda for life and a reward of paradise. Contrast that with the liberal establishment agenda that American imperialism tried to impose on Afghanistan or the Soviet agenda that they tried to impose. Atheism is not a very compelling religion. And the whole promise of the Western idea that somebody's going to become a millionaire or they're going to have a girlfriend who looks like a porn star, and so on and so forth. It's not very compelling. It's also not very realistic for people living in poverty, and so on. So, much of the Western propaganda about economic success and sexual utopia breeds bitterness. It doesn't breed happiness and further fuels anger towards the West, further makes people angry about their situation. So where does this go? It's too soon to tell, and we are very worried about the situation. If America was smart. It would reach out to the Taliban, but it is too soon to tell.