Saturday, November 30, 2013

True America: When the "A-Team" Breaks Bad

More: Afghan President Hamid Karzai is backpedaling furiously on the security deal the US claims it reached with the impoverished state. He told Susan Rice, the national security advisor, in Kabul on Monday that besides putting an end to raids on private homes, the US must send back Afghan prisoners detained at the Guantanamo gulag. Karzai claims that the Loya Jirga imposed this condition when it approved the security pact last week. He also blamed the US for meddling in the 2009 presidential election. Karzai has proved to be an exasperating collaborator and his latest reneging is true to form. DoD officials want the agreement signed by the end of the year, but Karzai appears to be in no mood to sign anytime soon. He is supposed to step down from the presidency after elections in April.

Update: {27.11.13}The Obamatron's national security advisor is in Kabul to twist Hamid Karzai's arm to sign the recently negotiated bilateral security pack that gives legal immunity to stay-behind US troops. Karzai has publicly said he does not trust the Americans "and they don't trust me." He has attempted to enlist the support of Afghanistan's tribal elders who are gathering in their traditional grand council or loya jirga. But the five day council surprised many by supporting the agreement. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, spokesman for the council told Karzai to quickly sign the security pack. The agreement provides billions of dollars in further aid to one of the poorest nations in the world. Naturally the Taliban condemned the loya jirga's endorsement. A Taliban spokesman said Afghanistan will "truly become the graveyard of international arrogance."

Karzai has already said signing a security deal should only take place after elections in April. He must leave the presidency after two terms. The issue of legal jurisdiction over remaining US troops, said to be around 8,000 up to 15,000 could be a stumbling block. Immunity for foreign soldiers is widely considered to be an infringement of Afghanistan's sovereignty. Karzai again took issue with American forces raiding private homes as part of their operations despite reassurances from the Obamatron that such raids would be "only under extraordinary circumstances". The Iraqis took the same position against legal immunity when the US demanded it for troops in their country. Iraq refused, so the US withdrew all of its forces.

The security situation in Afghanistan is dire and the presence of US forces is considered necessary to prevent the Kabul government from collapsing. The Taliban remain in control of much of the countryside and are making inroads in urban areas. Drug corruption and use is rampant. This year's opium crop is set to be a record breaker. Afghanistan's economy is on foreign aid life support and it will shrink by 10% as foreigners leave the country. To add to the country's problems is its hostile relationship with Pakistan. Border skirmishes have intensified in the past two years, and recently a "baroque" intrigue hatched by Afghan's intelligence service to support terrorists in Pakistan came to light in the New York Times. Considering the chaos that is brewing just below the surface, is not easy to understand how 8,000 American troops can do what 47,000 could not. Putting even fewer boots on the ground to control a hostile populace and kill hardened enemy fighters will almost certainly lead to violent excesses by demoralized American soldiers. It is simply mission impossible. Packing up the old kit bag and smiling as you board the plane out is the best thing Americans can expect to accomplish from their longest war on the edge of empire.

{21.11.13}Wars of insurrection are dirty business. America's involvement in these wars is no exception beginning with the Indian uprisings on the original thirteen colonies' frontier, the genocidal war against western tribes, the Philippine Insurrection, the Vietnam War to the present dismal experience in Afghanistan. The United States is insisting that troops remain in the central Asia desert on the edge of empire. Afghanistan's weak central government is attempting to resist imperial demands especially since it would have no jurisdiction over US troops if they commit crimes or attrocities. This issue has been a sticking point in a status of forces agreement under negotiation with quisling Hamid Karzai, but a security pack must be approved by Afghanistan's national assembly That atrocities have been committed is highly probable, but the US is refusing to aid investigation of allegations against US Special Forces made by former collaborators. This report by RT is eye-opening: