ALL the ‘we will win the war in Afghanistan’ propaganda has now been dumped as the political leaders of imperialism have begun to grasp that neither the workers at home nor many of the troops in the field will take much more of the Afghan slaughter.
The new, not so secret, British weapon is ‘bags of gold’, ie attempting to bribe sections of the Taleban to stop fighting and join a new government in the country.
Britain and the US under President Obama are now willing to accept leading Taleban political figures and fighters being part of an Afghan government that they are prepared to hand authority over to.
The latest army field manual openly recommends using bags of gold, as the main strategic weapon for fighting the Taleban.
The new creed is that ‘cash’ can be ‘a substitute for force’, especially if you are losing the battle of opposing forces.
The new Ministry of Defence field manual recommends that army commanders should also talk to Taleban leaders with ‘blood on their hands’ in a bid to hasten the end of the war.
There is no end to the antics of ‘perfidious Albion’ when it grasps that it is losing a struggle.
While the ruling class is publicly glorifying 18-year-olds that have been packed off by it to a war in central Asia for oil and gas, but have returned armless and legless in many cases, they are, at the same time, instructing officers to seek out the enemy commanders that ‘have blood on their hands’, to give them ‘bags of gold’.
In fact, the Afghans are only defending their people and their homes. The British ruling class on the contrary is up to its neck in blood!
Meanwhile, Brown and Miliband are providing the political cover for the imperialist operation.
Speaking at the launch of the MoD manual, Major-General Paul Newton advocated ‘use bags of gold in the short term to change the security dynamics’, but cautioned: ‘You don’t just chuck gold at them, this has to be done wisely.’
Brown now advocates hosting a NATO meeting in January to ‘set a timetable’ for transfer to full Afghan control, a control that will include important political and military leaders of the Taleban.
Brown is for the planned transfer of power ‘district by district’, in what could prove to be a very expensive operation since Afghan tribesmen only recognise gold as money, and this is now over $1100 an ounce.
He said of the conference ‘It should identify a process for transferring district by district to Afghan control, and if at all possible we should set a timetable for transferring districts starting in 2010.’ The latest British retreat from Afghanistan is to begin in 2010.
Miliband had very little to add. He did volunteer that in all of the areas there were now two states, the corrupt government of Karzai, and a Taleban-led administration that ran schools, a legal system and forces of law and order.
He said: ‘Britain wants to find a way to allow the “vast majority” of Taleban fighters who are not Islamic extremists to reintegrate into Afghan society. Once reintegration gains momentum, and the insurgency is starting to fray or crumble, we will need to support President Karzai in reaching out to those high-level commanders that can be persuaded to renounce al-Qaeda and pursue their goals peacefully within the constitutional framework.’
This is not much of a disguise to hide a Taleban victory.
The lesson for British workers is clear. The Taleban has fought for its rights. They are to be won over via bags of gold. Meanwhile, workers in the UK face cuts, mass unemployment and misery.
It is time for the working class to rouse itself and rise up to throw out the Brown government and bring in a workers government. The pathetic nature of British imperialism has been exposed in Afghanistan. Workers at home must now finish it off and go forward to socialism.
