Thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets of Afghanistan earlier this month, shouting 'death to America' and 'death to Karzai' after US forces killed and wounded dozens of civilians in Nangarhar province. Ordinary citizens and Afghan officials said Marines opened fire at anyone near their convoy after a March 3 suicide bomb attack injured one US soldier. Mohammad Khan Katawazi, the district chief of Shinwar district, said the Marines 'treated every car and person along the highway as a potential attacker' as they sped away from the scene of the explosion, even civilians desperately trying to get out of the way. At least 16 people were killed and another 23 injured by the Marines.
On the same weekend, US forces bombed a house in a nearby village, killing nine members of one family, including three women and five children.
These episodes are among the latest of many tragedies in the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan, now in its sixth year. The independent Senlis Council think tank reports that US-led NATO forces killed an estimated 4,000 civilians in the course of 2,000 bombing raids in southern Afghanistan during 2006.
Canada's hands are not clean in this catastrophe. While the Harper government talks about 'building democracy', over 90% of the Canadian 'investment' in Afghanistan is in the form of military spending. Canadian troops are just as heavy-handed as those of other NATO countries when it comes to intimidating Afghan civilians, and recently reports have come to light of abuse of captured insurgents by Canadian forces.
This 'mission' cannot be 'fixed'; it is fatally flawed. The role of Canadian troops is not to liberate Afghan women; it is to offer strategic assistance to the U.S. drive for domination of central Asia and the oil wealth of the region.
In May 2006, the Tory minority government won a narrow 149 to 145 vote in Parliament to extend the Afghanistan mission until 2009. Despite intense public pressure, the motion passed with the support of 30 Liberal MPs (including Michael Ignatieff, now the Liberal deputy leader), over the objections of the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois, and the majority of Liberals.
Since then, the Tories, the corporate media and the Canadian military brass have been in high gear pushing the pro-war line. But the opposition parties have wobbled, regrettably including the NDP, which speaks about re-deploying Canadian troops in Afghanistan for 'peaceful' reconstruction. The Bloc Quebecois threatened to bring down the government over this issue, but later backed off.
To Jack Layton's credit, he recently condemned Liberal and Conservative governments for leading Canada 'down a new and dangerous path... in favour of the aggressive unilateralism of George Bush.' He correctly pointed out that 'civilian victims in Afghanistan receive practically no attention... Mr. Harper and his ministers seem to think that we can go on seek and kill missions one day and build schools in the same village on the next.'
Make no mistake - a Conservative election victory would be a disaster, since Stephen Harper is one of the few world leaders to give full support to U.S. imperialism and its dirty wars of occupation and aggression.
But all parties should be pressed to take a clear stand for withdrawal of Canadian troops. We hope that Layton's NDP will campaign for withdrawal without 'fuzzying' the issue, along with other parties (including the Greens, who so far fail to take any consistent position). Finally, we note that the election of even one Communist would add a reliable and powerful voice against war and imperialism in the next Parliament.
From People's Voice
