André Brie, Editorial column for “Disput – the Left Party member magazine“, May 2008

Oppressing return

“The Afghan head of state, Hamid Karsai, on Sunday barely escaped a heavy shellfire attack in Kabul. During the march of around 3000 soldiers to a military parade in the capital, several sets of explosives went off; for 15 minutes there was constant firing. The president was moved into safety by his body guards. Three persons were wounded, roughly a dozen others were injured.“

This special newscast was run by the news agencies on 27 April. At that time, I was once again on a visit in Afghanistan. The streets were blocked for hours. I was stuck in one of the many fortresses, in which international organisations, embassies and Afghan governmental posts have barricaded themselves against the women and men citizens of Kabul, in the UN development agency. Never during my visits before had I witnessed such massive violence even in the Afghan capital itself. In the one week alone that I was in Afghanistan, at least 42 people were killed in combats and during attacks in Kabul and in the provinces. Most of this is not even noticed at the international level – the daily murders of women and men teachers, the burning down of schools, exploded road bridges. The security situation that was dramatic already was worsened still.

Of course, after the attempt against Karsai, the protests were loud. Federal foreign minister Steinmeier expressed his “disgust with the attack“; UN general secretary Ban Ki Moon condemned it “most harshly“. At the same time, the highest UN diplomat called for pursuing the international support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

However, this support is very half-hearted; its basics are just as wrong as its set priorities. A large part of the money flows back immediately to international firms, contract partners and experts, mainly US American ones. It was also kept hidden in the  reports that the attempt in a high-security zone was anyway possible only, because the Afghan security organs are undermined by resistance groups and government circles cooperate with them against the president. Of course, all the governments for  quite some time have been saying that a new strategy is required in Afghanistan, but  mainly under the pressure of the USA, the long since failed military strategy is continued under the perverse and hypocritical slogan of the “war against terror“. And of course, there  have certainly been very positive developments in Afghanistan, mainly in the health and educational sector. The disastrously high child mortality was lowered by a fifth. Six million Afghan girls, also the majority of the girls, are now allowed to go to school. Yet, next to insecurity, the continually high level of opium cultivation and drug trade as well as pervasive corruption remain an immense thrat. There is no effective international support for the reconversion of this in the truest sense murderous production, even though concepts are on the table. For millions of women and men Afghans, life conditions are marked by poverty, unemployment, the threat of hunger and insecurity. Since the beginning of the year, food prices have doubled. Opium cultivation and work on the poppy fields for hundreds of thousands are Afghanistan's Hartz IV.

The standstill is owed last but not least to the Afghan government itself. The democratisation of the countries has become stuck, there cannot be any question of a guarantee of basic and human rights, a renewed deterioration can be noticed. Last but not least it is still women and girls who are deprived of their rights and discriminated. Also the rampant corruption in the country departs mainly from the state government in Kabul. The president and his ministers these days are discredited in large parts of the population. It is only the weakness, corruption and fragmentation of his numerous opponents that constitute Karsai's “strength“. And of course the latter's support by the USA who with their exclusively military strategy provoked the situation in Afghanistan and are now ignoring the reality. In the beginning of the month, US president Bush requested an additional 45 billion Dollars for the military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. At the same time, Washington wants to send 7000 additional soldiers to the Hindu Kush, which would mean that then the US American unities would be more than 40,000 strong.

Realistic alternatives for the development of the Hindu Kush are apparent and have been named for a long time already, yet are ignored by the governments of the USA, the NATO and the EU countries and the one in Kabul. In that context belong the reorientation of help to social, civil, economic and social reconstruction as well as the strengthening of the Afghan decision-making competences and the disposal of the country over the employment of the international means along with the simultaneous struggle against governmental corruption. What is necessary are the consequent observation of human rights, an effective coordination of international help by the Afghan institutions and by the UN and the pushing back of national concepts, especially those of Washington, that are guided solely by the geopolitics of the USA. And as maybe the most important and quickly realisable tasks: The immediate stop to the US operation “Enduring Freedom“ as well as a clear separation of civilian and humanitarian help from all military structures.