Difference between revisions of "Afghanistan"
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{{nation state | {{nation state | ||
| − | |description="The graveyard of empires" - Afghanistan has a reputation for undoing ambitious military ventures and humiliating would-be aggressors. | + | |description="The graveyard of empires" - Afghanistan has a reputation for undoing ambitious military ventures and humiliating would-be aggressors. |
| − | | | + | |wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan |
| + | |sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Afghanistan | ||
| + | |historycommons=http://www.historycommons.org/topic.jsp?topic=country_afghanistan | ||
| + | |map=Afghanistan (orthographic projection).svg | ||
| + | |logo=Flag of Afghanistan.svg | ||
| + | |location=Asia,Central Asia,Greater Middle East | ||
| + | |ON_constitutes=Narco state | ||
| + | |wikileaks=http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghanistan | ||
| + | |wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Afghanistan | ||
}} | }} | ||
| + | '''Afghanistan''' is a [[nation state]] in [[Central Asia]]. It was invaded in [[2001]], after the [[Taliban]] outlawed the growing of [[opium]] (nominally as a response to the events of [[9-11]]). Following occupation by [[NATO]] troops, [[opium]] production has surged, meaning Afghanistan is now the source of around 90% of the world's [[heroin]]. | ||
| + | {{FA|Afghanistan/2001 Invasion}} | ||
| + | [[US]]-led [[NATO]] troops withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021. | ||
| + | {{FA|Afghanistan/2021 withdraw}} | ||
| + | {{FA|Evacuation from Afghanistan}} | ||
| + | |||
==Official narrative== | ==Official narrative== | ||
| − | The US government's {{on}} states that [[Al Qaeda]] was responsible for conceiving and carry out the [[9/11]] attacks, under the leadership of [[Ossama Bin Laden]] from a hideout somewhere in Afghanistan. | + | The US government's {{on}} states that [[Al Qaeda]] was responsible for conceiving and carry out the [[9/11]] attacks, under the leadership of [[Ossama Bin Laden]] from a hideout somewhere in Afghanistan. This justifies their [[2001 Afghanistan war|invasion and subsequent occupation]], an operation which was planned months before September 11th. |
===Problems=== | ===Problems=== | ||
| − | The [[Afghanistan war 2001|US led attack on Afghanistan]] was planned before the September 11th event, so clearly has some ulterior motive(s), of which the most obvious would seem to be the potential for profits from the [[opium]] trade. | + | The [[Afghanistan war 2001|US led attack on Afghanistan]] was planned before the September 11th event<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm The BBC reported] a week after [[9-11]] that "[[Niaz Naik]], a former [[Pakistani Foreign Secretary]], was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October".</ref>, so clearly has some ulterior motive(s), of which the most obvious would seem to be the potential for profits from the [[opium]] trade and of course the perpetual need of the [[MICC]] for [[war]] and unrest. |
| + | |||
| + | ==History== | ||
| + | Afghanistan was invaded by the [[USSR]] in December 1979, and the [[1980s Afghan war]] ensued until a Soviet withdrawal in 1989. This lead the US to arms and train [[Muslim]] groups, which later became the "[[Muslim terrorists]]" used by [[Operation Gladio/B]]. | ||
==Opium== | ==Opium== | ||
| − | The opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan for the year [[2000]] was outstandingly low, after the [[Taliban]] banned production of the crop. However, it increased after the US invaded the country in [[2001]] and Afghanistan now produces the vast majority of the world's opium, and has been enjoying record harvests. [[Sibel Edmonds]] has stated that a large proportion of this is shipped via US military planes to [[Turkey]] for onwards distribution.<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/691</ref> | + | [[image:Opium production in Afghanistan.gif|left|Thumbnail|550px|Increasing production since 2001]] |
| + | [[Adam Curtis]]' ''[[Bitter Lake]]'' tells how the geography of Afghanistan was changed after [[WWII]] by international [[development]] agencies which built damns that raised the water table. This facilitated opium cultivation. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan for the year [[2000]] was outstandingly low, after the [[Taliban]] banned production of the crop. However, it increased after the US led an [[2001 Invasion of Afghanistan|invaded the country]] in [[2001]] and Afghanistan now produces the vast majority of the world's opium, and has been enjoying record harvests, leading to it being labelled a "[[narco-state]]". [[Sibel Edmonds]] has stated that a large proportion of this is shipped via US military planes to [[Turkey]] for onwards distribution.<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/691</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Mineral Wealth== | ||
| + | [[image:Afghan wealth.jpg|left|thumbnail|380px|Huge mineral deposits are known in Afghanistan]] | ||
| + | Afghanistan has huge mineral deposits of a wide variety. The ''[[New York Times]]'', to the incredulity of [[Russ Baker]]<ref>http://whowhatwhy.org/2012/09/10/the-real-reason-for-the-afghan-war/</ref> claimed that "the vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was [recently] discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists." Baker instead suggests that "other evidence, and logic, point to the fact that everyone but the Western public knew for a long time, and before the [[Afghan War|2001 invasion]], that Afghanistan was a treasure trove." | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Mass surveillance== | ||
| + | [[Wikileaks]] stated in [[2014]] that "the [[National Security Agency]] has been recording and storing nearly all the domestic (and international) phone calls from two or more target countries as of 2013... WikiLeaks has confirmed that the identity of victim state is Afghanistan."<ref>https://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-statement-on-the-mass.html</ref> | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==US/NATO exit from Afghanistan 2021== | ||
| + | {{FA|Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal}} | ||
| + | On 14th April 2021, [[NATO Secretary General]] [[Jens Stoltenberg]] announced the start of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by May 1st.<ref>https://www.voanews.com/usa/nato-cut-forces-afghanistan-match-us-withdrawal</ref> The withdrawal appears to be uncoordinated at times,<ref>https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/bagram-airfield-looted-as-us-forces-leave-afghan-base/</ref> and while the [[Afghan Army]] tries to fight the takeover,<ref>[https://www.bitchute.com/video/UmuTxapcPi4G/ TALIBAN NEAR CAPTURE OF LASHKAR GAH, AS FIGHTING REACHES KABUL] August 4th, 2021. - [[Southfront]]</ref><ref>https://southfront.org/overview-of-talibans-advance-first-provincial-capitals-fell-manhunt-declared-in-kabul/</ref> there are reported instances where equipment, vehicles and bases are captured with little resistance.<ref>https://www.zerohedge.com/political/first-afghan-provincial-capital-falls-taliban-now-patrolling-city-us-humvees</ref><ref>https://news.sky.com/story/the-taliban-are-making-gains-as-us-pulls-out-of-afghanistan-and-showing-off-a-treasure-trove-of-armoury-and-ammunitions-12348957</ref><ref>https://nypost.com/2021/07/06/taliban-celebrate-seizure-of-us-weapons-from-afghan-troops/</ref> A delegation of the [[Taliban]] visiting [[China]] in late July [[2021]] was told that China expects the Taliban to play important role in ending Afghanistan's war and rebuilding the country.<ref>https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taliban-delegation-visits-china-taliban-spokesperson-2021-07-28/</ref> | ||
| + | |||
{{SMWDocs}} | {{SMWDocs}} | ||
| − | {{ | + | |
| + | ==References== | ||
| + | {{Reflist}} | ||
Latest revision as of 04:31, 22 February 2023
 Afghanistan      | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
 | |
| Location | Asia, Central Asia, Greater Middle East |
| Type |  nation state |
| Interest of | CENTCOM, Charles Cogan, Lucy Morgan Edwards, Anthony Fitzherbert, Anatol Lieven, Malik Niazi, Barnett Rubin, Danish Siddiqui |
| Member of | International Criminal Court, UN |
| Subpage | •Afghanistan/2001 Invasion •Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal •Afghanistan/Ambassador •Afghanistan/Chief of Government's Media Department •Afghanistan/President •Afghanistan/Prime Minister |
| "The graveyard of empires" - Afghanistan has a reputation for undoing ambitious military ventures and humiliating would-be aggressors. | |
Afghanistan is a nation state in Central Asia. It was invaded in 2001, after the Taliban outlawed the growing of opium (nominally as a response to the events of 9-11). Following occupation by NATO troops, opium production has surged, meaning Afghanistan is now the source of around 90% of the world's heroin.
- Full article: Afghanistan/2001 Invasion
- Full article: Afghanistan/2001 Invasion
US-led NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021.
- Full article: Afghanistan/2021 withdraw
- Full article: Evacuation from Afghanistan
- Full article: Afghanistan/2021 withdraw
Contents
Official narrative
The US government's official narrative states that Al Qaeda was responsible for conceiving and carry out the 9/11 attacks, under the leadership of Ossama Bin Laden from a hideout somewhere in Afghanistan. This justifies their invasion and subsequent occupation, an operation which was planned months before September 11th.
Problems
The US led attack on Afghanistan was planned before the September 11th event[1], so clearly has some ulterior motive(s), of which the most obvious would seem to be the potential for profits from the opium trade and of course the perpetual need of the MICC for war and unrest.
History
Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR in December 1979, and the 1980s Afghan war ensued until a Soviet withdrawal in 1989. This lead the US to arms and train Muslim groups, which later became the "Muslim terrorists" used by Operation Gladio/B.
Opium
Adam Curtis' Bitter Lake tells how the geography of Afghanistan was changed after WWII by international development agencies which built damns that raised the water table. This facilitated opium cultivation.
The opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan for the year 2000 was outstandingly low, after the Taliban banned production of the crop. However, it increased after the US led an invaded the country in 2001 and Afghanistan now produces the vast majority of the world's opium, and has been enjoying record harvests, leading to it being labelled a "narco-state". Sibel Edmonds has stated that a large proportion of this is shipped via US military planes to Turkey for onwards distribution.[2]
Mineral Wealth
Afghanistan has huge mineral deposits of a wide variety. The New York Times, to the incredulity of Russ Baker[3] claimed that "the vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was [recently] discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists." Baker instead suggests that "other evidence, and logic, point to the fact that everyone but the Western public knew for a long time, and before the 2001 invasion, that Afghanistan was a treasure trove."
Mass surveillance
Wikileaks stated in 2014 that "the National Security Agency has been recording and storing nearly all the domestic (and international) phone calls from two or more target countries as of 2013... WikiLeaks has confirmed that the identity of victim state is Afghanistan."[4]
US/NATO exit from Afghanistan 2021
- Full article: Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal
- Full article: Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal
On 14th April 2021, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the start of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by May 1st.[5] The withdrawal appears to be uncoordinated at times,[6] and while the Afghan Army tries to fight the takeover,[7][8] there are reported instances where equipment, vehicles and bases are captured with little resistance.[9][10][11] A delegation of the Taliban visiting China in late July 2021 was told that China expects the Taliban to play important role in ending Afghanistan's war and rebuilding the country.[12]
An event carried out
| Event | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Evacuation from Afghanistan | Afghanistan | The evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan, one of the largest airlifts in history |
Related Quotations
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 United States diplomatic cables leak/Middle East | “You know better than I that we cannot deal with these people (the Guantanamo detainees). I can't detain them. If I take their passports, they will sue to get them back. I can talk to you into next week about building a rehabilitation center, but it won't happen. We are not Saudi Arabia; we cannot isolate these people in desert camps or somewhere on an island. We cannot compel them to stay. If they are rotten, they are rotten and the best thing to do is get rid of them. You picked them up in Afghanistan; you should drop them off in Afghanistan, in the middle of the war zone.” | Wikileaks Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah | 2010 |
| Charles Cogan | “In Afghanistan, the CIA had “funded the worst fellows right from the start, long before the Iranian revolution and long before the Soviet invasion.”” | Charles Cogan | |
| George Curzon | “Turkestan, Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Persia. To many, these words breathe only a sense of utter remoteness, or a memory of strange vicissitudes or moribund romance. To me, I confess, they are pieces on a chessboard, upon which is being played out a game for the domination of the world” | George Curzon | 1898 |
| Lucy Morgan Edwards | “[When asked by Tony Gosling why she thought the US & the UK were so interested in invading Afghanistan, other than the drugs ]: Clearly, it's nothing to do with democracy or women's rights. You'd have to need a lobotomy if you still believed that - despite all the relentless propaganda about free and fair elections and everything. That's complete and utter nonsense. It's just one massive great military base now. I went back there in 2013. I found it really shocking, the military, the militarised presence in Kabul, the watchtowers, the Hesco barriers... It's nothing to do with helping Afghanistan develop, but I think it's all about being a military base for the coming wars on Iran, China, potentially Russia. It's all about where it's located. As we know Lord Curzon said obver a hundred years ago it was the center of the geopolitical chessboard of Asia.” | Lucy Morgan Edwards | March 2018 |
Events
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| 1980s Afghan war | Another episode of the Soviet Union and US imploding a third world country from inside by fuelling a civil war with weapon smuggling. Afghanistan has yet to recover. |
| 2021 Kabul Airport attacks | Suicide bombings in the middle of the Afghanistan/2021 withdraw |
| Afghanistan/2001 Invasion | The war in Afghanistan, instigated within a month of 9/11, supposedly in retaliation, with the claimed justification - for which no evidence has been presented - that the attacks were planned by Ossama bin Laden, and that he was based in Afghanistan. |
| Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal | The end of the US–led NATO occupation of Afghanistan |
| Evacuation from Afghanistan | The evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan, one of the largest airlifts in history |
| Kunduz hospital airstrike | On 3 October 2015, an United States Air Force AC-130U gunship machine-gunned a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders in the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. At least 42 people were killed and over 30 were injured in the hour-long deliberate attack. |
| Operation Cyclone | The first time the CIA officially met Osama Bin Laden, they deemed him part of the hero movement to protect the world against Soviet influence. In Operation Cyclone, the CIA funded him and allowed entire cities to become death traps with the narrative of giving Soviets their own Vietnam. |
| Operation MIAS | A CIA run "arms-reduction project which reportedly bough back Stinger missiles given to the Mujahideen to fight the USSR in Afghanistan |
| The Massacre at Mazar | 2001 massacre when maybe 7,500 Taliban prisoners of war were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal shipping containers. Degree of US participation disputed. |
Job here
| Event | Appointed | End |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Farr | 1980 | 1980 |
Citizens of Afghanistan on Wikispooks
| Title | Born | Died | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hafizullah Amin | 1 August 1929 | 27 December 1979 | |
| Said Tayeb Jawad | 22 February 1958 | Afghan diplomat; posted in Russia, UK and USA | |
| Hamid Karzai | 24 December 1957 | President of Afghanistan 2004-2014 | |
| Ahmad Shah Massoud | 2 September 1953 | 9 September 2001 | Ahmad Massoud.jpg |
| Ahmad Wali Massoud | |||
| Dawa Khan Menapal | 6 August 2021 | Afghanistan's top media official, who was assassinated in August 2021. |
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s Afghan war | 24 December 1979 | 15 February 1989 | Afghanistan | Another episode of the Soviet Union and US imploding a third world country from inside by fuelling a civil war with weapon smuggling. Afghanistan has yet to recover. |
| Bandung Conference | 1955 | 1955 | Indonesia | Important conference for the global south; participants soon became prime targets for US foreign policy |
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Afghanistan 1979-1992 | book extract | 2003 | William Blum | |
| Document:A warring nation, united against us | Letter | 19 August 2021 | Craig Murray | Craig Murray's letter to The Herald from prison in Edinburgh: "As with the previous three times when UK invasions were defeated in Afghanistan, we have united a warring nation in hatred of us." |
| Document:Afghanistan is not about you | Article | 19 August 2021 | Ella Whelan | Neocon MPs are concerned about the Afghanistan/2021 withdraw. The only problem is that they only care about themselves, and thereby show us the narcissism of Western intervention. |
| Document:Ed Miliband’s decision to oppose military action against Syria is an action of statesmanship of which Britons will be proud | Article | 28 August 2013 | Michael Meacher | It is all very well to rush to war in a surge of moral outrage, it is quite another to spell out clearly what are the war objectives and how exactly they are to be achieved. |
| Document:Pakistan Military version of Border Post Attack | review | 1 February 2012 | Asif Haroon Raja | Pakistani military review of the NATO attack on two of its border posts on 26 November 2011 |
| Document:The 20-year war on Afghanistan was a mistake | Speech | 18 August 2021 | Zarah Sultana | Speaking outside Parliament on 18 August 2021, prior to the Afghanistan emergency debate, Zarah Sultana joined colleagues including Jeremy Corbyn to say: "The war on Afghanistan shows – once and for all – that the West cannot deliver liberal democracy at the barrel of a gun. This war – the first 'War on Terror' – must be Britain's last war of aggression." |
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References
- ↑ The BBC reported a week after 9-11 that "Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October".
- ↑ http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/691
- ↑ http://whowhatwhy.org/2012/09/10/the-real-reason-for-the-afghan-war/
- ↑ https://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-statement-on-the-mass.html
- ↑ https://www.voanews.com/usa/nato-cut-forces-afghanistan-match-us-withdrawal
- ↑ https://nypost.com/2021/07/05/bagram-airfield-looted-as-us-forces-leave-afghan-base/
- ↑ TALIBAN NEAR CAPTURE OF LASHKAR GAH, AS FIGHTING REACHES KABUL August 4th, 2021. - Southfront
- ↑ https://southfront.org/overview-of-talibans-advance-first-provincial-capitals-fell-manhunt-declared-in-kabul/
- ↑ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/first-afghan-provincial-capital-falls-taliban-now-patrolling-city-us-humvees
- ↑ https://news.sky.com/story/the-taliban-are-making-gains-as-us-pulls-out-of-afghanistan-and-showing-off-a-treasure-trove-of-armoury-and-ammunitions-12348957
- ↑ https://nypost.com/2021/07/06/taliban-celebrate-seizure-of-us-weapons-from-afghan-troops/
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/taliban-delegation-visits-china-taliban-spokesperson-2021-07-28/
