THE Taleban yesterday carried out another daring attack in the centre of the Afghan capital, Kabul, with gun and shellfire taking place near to the US, UK and German embassies in a scene that brings to mind the last days of the US’ occupation of Saigon.
Clearly, the majority of the Afghan people want the NATO occupation to end.
The murder of thousands of Afghans, men, women and children, in drone and US army night attacks, allied with US troops burning Korans and urinating over dead Taleban fighters has created a situation where the Afghan army is now neutral in the struggle, with some sections taking part in attacks on US and NATO troops as the situation allows.
The situation is so untenable that US officials and NATO officers are no longer allowed to work in Afghan government secure buildings, since their personal security cannot be guaranteed.
In the current action, multiple blasts and gunfire have not only been heard in the Kabul central district home to a number of international embassies, but there have also been blasts near the parliament building in the west of the capital.
A Taleban spokesman has meanwhile claimed the latest Kabul attacks as well as ongoing attacks in Logar province, close to Kabul, and Paktia province. The centre of the eastern city of Jalalabad is reported to be closed with heavy fighting taking place.
The action in Kabul was preceded by a Taleban attack on a prison in Pakistan on Saturday, when almost 400 political prisoners were freed.
Officials confirmed that some of the freed men were ‘very dangerous’ insurgents, including an inmate on death row for trying to kill ex-President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. The jail is in Bannu, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Pakistan’s volatile tribal areas.
Pakistani Taleban fighters confirmed they carried out the attack. ‘We attacked the Bannu prison and got our special members freed,’ Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taleban spokesman said, adding that, ‘In a couple of days, when all of them have reached their designated places, we will issue details about them.’
Officials confirmed that fighters in cars and pick-up trucks entered the complex shooting and throwing grenades freeing 384 prisoners.
Meanwhile, the son of the late Afghan peace talks chief Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was killed by a suicide bomber last September, has been appointed to replace him. Salahuddin Rabbani is to chair the country’s High Peace Council, which leads Afghan efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.
His task is complicated by the fact that the Taleban view the Western-backed government of Hamid Karzai as illegitimate.
Last month, the Taleban suspended preliminary peace negotiations with the United States, saying US efforts to involve the Afghan authorities were a key stumbling block.
The Taleban now considers that it can force the US to negotiate its withdrawal solely with it, the implication being that the day after US troops leave, the Karzai regime will be no more, leaving the Taleban to decide who it wishes to join it in the new government.
The NATO intervention into Afghanistan has been a complete disaster. Its major achievements have been the confirmation that the Taleban is the dominant political force in the country and will constitute the government, as well as the complete alienation of 200 million Pakistanis to the point where they will shortly take action to overthrow their pro-US government.
None of this bodes well for the next US-NATO military adventure scheduled to be against the Iranian people. The workers of the West, particularly the UK must not stand aside during these epic struggles that are seriously weakening world imperialism.
In fact, they must support the actions of the former colonial peoples with socialist revolutions that will smash capitalism and imperialism for ever and bring in world socialism.
