The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO Defense Ministers Meeting in Brussels on June 29th said that NATO Member States confirmed to send thousands of fresh troops to Afghanistan. He added that the NATO Defense Ministers vowed once again to support the Afghan security forces to make their country more secure, and ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes safe haven for international “terrorists”. Stoltenberg also emphasized that the NATO’s main mission helps train, assist and advise the Afghan Security Forces, and NATO will never re-engage in combat operations.
From January 1, 2015, NATO launched its new mission under the name of “Resolute Support Mission” right after the end of 13 years of longest US war mission. Two years after that, the Member States of the treaty once again agreed with Afghanistan to increase troop levels for the purpose of training, advising and assisting Afghanistan’s security forces. On the other hand, Afghanistan has been the scene of bloodiest and deadliest attacks in recent months that killed and injured hundreds of civilians. NATO apparently said that the key reason of its increased troops’ presence in Afghanistan is to prevent the return of “terrorism”, and to increase insecurity. The series of targeted explosions in recent months in Afghanistan – whose complexity and intensity revealed that they had been operated by the US intelligence agencies. By means of such explosions, the US sends signals to European countries that if they withdraw from the war of Afghanistan, the “terrorists” will become stronger and so the Europeans will eventually have to fight them in big European cities where the cost would be much higher than that of fighting Afghanistan.
It has become clear to everyone that today’s America is not the America of late twentieth century. The United States has been rotting from inside as it suffers from numerous internal crises. It is only a matter of time that shocks resulting from such chronic crises, together with some deadly blow from another power will bring down the pillars of this empire crumbing to the ground. And sooner, public opinion will by and large realize that the United States is not as powerful as it is portrayed. Even in such situations when the American vulnerability is evident, NATO Member States are walking the path of the United States. This implies that key implementers and carriers of Capitalism are struggling with gradual decline and downfall. And among them, there is no country who would dare strike a decisive blow on the head of this international despot (the US).
On the other hand, in a month’s time, the United States will announce its military strategy about Afghanistan – a strategy that has been repeatedly postponed due to the sharp disagreements between the security and military departments of the United States. However, USA succeeded in getting European commitment on the war in Afghanistan before announcing their own strategy, and the US has also forced Europe to send more troops to Afghanistan. Consequently, the US will put the burden of the Afghan war on the shoulders of Europe, while keeping itself focused on reaching its long-term and strategic goals in the region, Central Asia and Russia.
The purpose of the United States is to keep the NATO Member States involved in an endless war in Afghanistan so they do not get a chance to think about freeing themselves from the influence of the falling America on the international scene, and to make Europeans forget the agenda of having a strong and united Europe. The US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis audaciously said: “I do not set a schedule for war. War is basically an unpredictable phenomenon.”
While the Taliban strongholds including the Qatar political office are ready to seek conditional-peace with the United States and the Afghan government, the Taliban request has gone unrecognized. Even this positive gesture of one Taliban group is taken to challenge by another Taliban group as a result of American policies. Simultaneously, the US has created a new threat under the name of ISIS of Khurasan to threaten the Taliban. Even if peace talks are held with the Taliban, another group (ISIS) has already been placed in the ambush to deteriorate the security. This comes at a time when nothing is mentioned nor will be mentioned about ISIS in the process of peace talks.
As a result, the war in Afghanistan has not been a war against “terrorism”. Quite the opposite, the presence of the United States and NATO in Afghanistan has intensified the terror, horror, and killing of Muslims in fighting between the government forces and the opposition forces in Afghanistan and the region. In fact, the war against “terrorism” is a pretext by which the US pursues its strategic and regional interests.
Saifullah Mustanir
Director of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Afghanistan
Written for Ar-Rayah Newspaper – Issue 137