US and NATO responsible for drug surge -Afganistan

West Won't Win Afghan War

By Eric Margolis

09/17/06

"Toronto Sun"

As Canadian, American and British soldiers continue to die in
Afghanistan,
it is time the truth be told about this ugly little war.

Much of what we've so far been told by our governments and media has
been
untrue, wishful thinking, or crass jingoism.

The respected European think tank, Senlis Council, which focuses on
Afghanistan, just reported the Taliban is "taking back Afghanistan" and
now
controls that nation's southern half. According to Senlis, southern
Afghanistan is suffering "a humanitarian crisis of starvation and
poverty.

"U.S. policies in Afghanistan have re-created the safe haven for
terrorism
that the 2001 invasion aimed to destroy," Senlis found.

Claims that withdrawing Western garrisons from Afghanistan or Iraq will
leave a void certain to be filled by extremists are nonsense. Half of
Afghanistan and a third of Iraq are already largely controlled by
anti-Western resistance forces.

Were it not for omnipotent U.S. airpower, American and NATO forces
would be
quickly driven from the area.

Last week, Canadian and British commanders boasted they were about to
annihilate Taliban forces "surrounded" around Panjwai and Zahri. They
crowed
about already killing an "estimated 500 Taliban."

After a storm of bombing and shelling, British and Canadian commanders
admitted "we were surprised the enemy had fled." Surprised?

"Good Morning, Afghanistan!" Doesn't anyone remember the Vietnam War's
fruitless search-and-destroy missions and inflated body counts? Don't
NATO
commanders know their every move is telegraphed in advance to Taliban
forces?

Did Canadian officers making such fanciful claims really believe the
Taliban
's veteran guerillas would be stupid enough to sit still and be
destroyed by
U.S. air power?

U.S., British and Canadian politicians say they are surprised by
intensifying Taliban resistance. They have only their own ignorance to
blame.

Attacking Pashtuns, renowned for xenophobia, warlike spirits, and love
of
independence, is a fool's mission. Pashtuns are Afghanistan's ethnic
majority; long-term national stability is impossible without their
co-operation.

What the West calls "Taliban" is actually a growing coalition of
veteran
Taliban fighters led by Mullah Dadullah, other clans of Pashtun tribal
warriors, and nationalist resistance forces under Jalalladin Hakkani
and
former prime minister Gulbadin Hekmatyar. Many are former mujahadeen
once
hailed as "freedom fighters" by the West, and branded "terrorists" by
the
Soviets.

The UN's anti-narcotic agency reports narco-state Afghanistan now
supplies
92% of the world's heroin. Production surged 20% last year alone. Who
is
responsible? The U.S. and NATO. Washington, Ottawa and London can't
keep
pretending this is someone else's problem.

Drug money fuels the Afghan
economy and keeps local warlords loyal to the U.S.-installed Kabul
regime.

Russian influence

Afghanistan's north has become a sphere of influence of Russia and its
local
allies, the Uzbek-Tajik Northern Alliance (led by notorious war
criminals
and leaders of the old Afghan Communist Party).

The U.S. and its allies are not going to win the Afghan war. They will
be
lucky, the way things are going, not to lose it in the same humiliating
manner the Soviets did in 1989.

Ottawa's deepening involvement in a conflict in which it lacks any
national
interests ?- save pleasing Washington and selling lumber ?- jeopardizes
Canada
's security.

Western troops are not fighting "terrorism" in Afghanistan, as Prime
Minister Stephen Harper claims. They are fighting the Afghan people.
Every
new civilian killed, and every village bombed, breeds new enemies for
the
West.

© 2006 The Toronto Sun

It's either oil or drugs.....apparently in the US human beings are expendable compared to these things. Will young guys willingly go to 'war' to protect American and NATO interests? I smell a draft...and a lot of dodgers.