The invasion of Afghanistan led to the longest conflict in U.S. history. It has decimated an ancient land and its people, and enhanced the power and wealth of war criminals and Taliban jihadists. It has also grievously harmed a generation of U.S. soldiers and filled the pockets of war industrialists and mercenaries.
Against this backdrop, we are told, the April 5 presidential election symbolizes the secular democracy that the U.S. “war on terror” has supposedly brought to Afghanistan. In fact, fundamentalists and local leaders ruling by force dominate the slates of the ten presidential candidates, who all support allowing the U.S. to keep military bases in Afghanistan.
In power since 2001, current puppet President Hamid Karzai openly stole the 2009 elections, has received tens of millions of U.S. dollars, and maintains criminal enterprises nationally. Whoever replaces him will do much the same.
Afghanistan’s economy will remain dependent on foreign aid and opium. The condition of women will become more wretched, and continued repression will weigh down already impoverished peoples.
This is what comes of U.S. military activity to “protect U.S. interests and national security.” Would it be surprising if the majority of Afghans just refuse to vote?
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